Increase in profits in Aavin helps provide better incentives to farmers: Mano Thangaraj

 Minister of Milk and Dairy Development Mano Thangaraj said the increase in profits in Aavin has helped provide more incentives to farmers supplying milk to the co-operative.  

Speaking to journalists here on Saturday, he said based on the profits, they were giving ₹ 1 incentive to the farmers for their overall supply and ₹2 subsidy for the cow feed they buy from Aavin.  

“Also, as the procurement has increased by around 50,000 litres, they were able to work for improving the incentives, loan and insurance benefitting the farmers,” he noted.  

Additionally, the farmers in Madurai have been given ₹100 subsidy for the cattle feed from the profits earned, he said.

“Considering the increase in sales and procurement, we have also increased the protein content of the cattle feed by 20% while retaining the old price,” Mr. Mano Thangaraj said.  

To make the procurement process cleaner and more precise, about 10,450 spot acknowledgment machines were installed across the State and through that the exact value of fat and other content in the milk could be measured and informed to the farmers, he stated.  

“The data procured would be fed into the cloud so that it stays untouched. It not just measures the milk content but also ensures the quality of milk,” he added.  

Speaking on the usage of milk extracting machines on cows, Mr. Mano Thangaraj said, “As foreign countries have fully shifted to machine extraction we have proof that it would not affect the cattle in any way, but our job is to ensure that farmers buy machines without compromising on their quality.” 

As the farmers were aware of the fluctuating market price in private companies and an unassured payment structure, they preferred to supply milk to Aavin. That had made the State-run co-operative a successful unit, he noted.