Chhatrapur: Five milk ATMs will be established in Berhampur to make milk easily available to the residents of Silk City, a report said.
These milk ATMs will be established in the first phase in Silk City in assistance with Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (OMFED) and Tata Steel.
These projects, if successful, will be replicated in the district headquarters of Chhatrapur and Hinjili. The matter came to the fore during a meeting on milk production by the Ganjam district administration at the conference hall of the district collectorate Wednesday.
Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange presided over the meeting and stressed increasing milk production in the district.
The Collector said that a total of 16,880 litres of milk is being collected daily from Ganjam and Gajapati district. While 15,000 litres is collected from Ganjam district, the rest is collected from Gajapati district from 212 milk producing societies.
He stressed that milk collection should be increased to 25,000 litre daily. The milk is being collected from 7191 farmers, he said.
The district has 20 small milk chilling centres as he asked to link them with banks and help farmers get loans to purchase cows.
He said milk farmers will be helped in constructing model cowsheds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). This apart, an exhibition on livestock farming comprising goats, sheep and cows will be organised at Chhatrapur in the month of June.
According to reports, the district produces 96.96 Mt of milk in a year while 53,15,400 eggs is produced in a year in the district. The Collector directed to increase milk production. At present, per head availability of milk stands at 75.46 gram. Similarly, per head availability of eggs is 151 per year.
The Collector also stressed increasing grass production in the district to help farmers get grass to feed their livestock. The district administration has planned grass cultivation on 200 acres while currently 137 farmers are cultivating grass on 115 acres.
The district administration has planned to provide cattlefeed to 1713 beneficiaries affected by the cyclonic storm Titli and subsequent flood in the district while 1650 among them have been provided with cattlefeed at a discount of 50 per cent.
Among others, chief district veterinary officer (CVDO) Dr Trinath Nayak, general manager Dillip Kumar Patnaik of Ganjam and Gajapati milk producers’ cooperative federation , ADVOs Dr Rabi Narayan Panda, Dr Madhusudan Subudhi, Chhatrapur SDVO Dr Amitav Panda, Bhanjanagar SDVO Dr Banamali Sahu and veterinarians of all 22 blocks attended the meeting.
PNN