Gujarat's Cooprative giant Amul launches its operations in Punjab

By Jagmohan Singh
AMRITSAR: Gujarat Cooperation Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the leading producer of milk under the name of Amul Brand today, announced the launch of its operations in Punjab. Amul has been a shining example of the power of farmer’s cooperative movement born before India gained freedom way back in the year 1946.
After seeing the success of Amul in setting up milk procurement network outside Gujarat, Amul started receiving requests from the state of Punjab too. Keeping the above facts in view, Amul has now decided to setup a milk procurement network in Punjab, starting from Batala, Gurdaspur as nucleus of its development. The ‘Anand Pattern” has matured over the years and has been evolving with experience gained outside Gujarat. Currently Amul is procuring more than 25 lac litres of milk every day from farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, MP and Maharastra.
Speaking on the occasion of commencent of milk procurement by Amul in Punjab, R S Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF (Amul) said “It is a proud moment for Amul to associate with the milk producers of Punjab. This relationship will herald a new revolution in the State and bring benefits to both. Amul plans to procure 2 lac litres of milk per day from the state”.
Sodhi further added “The average daily milk production in Punjab is 265 lac litres per day. The cooperative network of Verka is procuring approx 11-12 lac litres milk per day, which is less than 5% of the total milk produced daily in the state. So, this initiative by Amul will help strenghten the cooperative dairy movement in the state and benefit more farmers. The farmers will also get better prices of milk.”

Quality Milk Procurement would be done in state of theart Bulk Milk Coolers from Dairy farmers. Milk would be checked for Quality by specialisedMilkoscreen Machines from Denmark. These analysers would be able to detect adulteration, including adulteration by water, in milk. Only quality milk would be accepted. The quality milk would be chilled in the BMCs to retain the quality of raw milk. This milk would subsequently be transported to the Processing Plant at Batala. The payment system involved is robust and State Bank of India has assured to extend Financial Inclusion to the farmers of AMUL, thereby assuring stable and secure means of payment to the farmers, said Sodhi.