May 18, 2012
India's dairy enterprises to raise cattle feed output twofold
In the next two years, the dairy associations in India's western state of Gujarat seek to increase their cattle feed output by twofold.
Currently, dairies that are members of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) have a total production capacity of 4,200 tonnes per day. This will be increased to 7,800 tonnes per day in the next two years through the addition of eight new plants being set up across the state.
"Presently, our member unions have 10 plants for production of cattle feed. In two years, eight new cattle feed plants will come up across the state adding 3,600 tonnes capacity. This is being done to support milk procurement network as a single cattle requires one kilogramme cattle feed daily besides green and dry fodder," GCMMF's managing director R S Sodhi told TOI on Wednesday (May 16).
The new plants will be set up by Anand's Amul Dairy, Mehsana's Dudhsagar Dairy, Himmatnagar-based Sabar Dairy, Palanpur-based Banas Dairy, Panchmahal's Panchamrut Dairy, Valsad's Vasudhara Dairy, Bhavnagar's Sarvottam Dairy and Amreli's Amar Dairy. The total investment is around EUR72 million (US$92 million).
It is estimated that to meet Gujarat's milk production that stands at around 350,000 litres milk per day, the sector requires 20,000 tonnes of cattle feed daily.