Women-led firms launch value-added products
The International Dairy Federation (IDF)’s World Dairy Summit 2022 on Wednesday saw women-centric milk producer companies (MPCs) launching their products in presence of global majors.
The MPCs owned by farmers are set to triple their milk procurement to reach value of more than ₹18,000 crore from the current ₹5,575 crore in the next five years.
As many as six MPCs that included India’s first women-centric MPC Tirupati-based (Andhra Pradesh) Shreeja, Gujarat-based Maahi, Rajasthan’s Paayas, Sakhi and Asha and Balinee from Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh utilised the IDF platform to launch about half a dozen products. In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister had stated that women leadership formed about 70 per cent workforce in dairy and about 1/3rd in co-operatives.He termed them as the driving force for ₹8.5-lakh crore Indian dairy industry.
About 7.5 lakh dairy farmers have formed 20 producer companies. The latest launch of value-added products by a few of them is seen as an effort to enter the organised dairy space, dominated by the established State-level and national brands.
Four different brands of ghee along with curd and paneer have been launched by the four MPCs Shreeja, Asha, Sakhi and Balinee. Gujarat’s Maahi launched Gir Amrut ghee brand. Shreeja unveiled its cow ghee and mango yoghurt. The other MPCs, Sakhi and Balinee, too, launched ghee and Asha added paneer and curd to its already diverse product portfolio.
NDDB efforts
In the past 10 years, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) through its wholly-owned subsidiary NDDB Dairy Services (NDS) has facilitated creation of 20 MPCs. Of these, 18 are operational with daily milk collection of 40 lakh litres.
Meenesh Shah, Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), informed that the milk procurement by such MPCs would treble to top ₹18,000 crore, while daily volumes would rise to over 100 lakh litres.
Overall, the dairy players have stated that India’s dairy output will more than double in the next five years from current ₹13-lakh crore to about ₹30-lakh crore by 2027.
RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul marketer, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, has projected India’s contribution to the world dairy market to shoot up to 47 per cent from the current 23 per cent.