Dairies in Gujarat are set to increase by twofold their production capacity of compound feed for cattle output in following 2 years.
Currently collectively, the dairy farm co-ops that are members of the Gujarat co-op Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) possess a production capacity of 4,200 MT a day. This is due to be scaled up to 7,800 MT a day in the following 2 years by as many as 8 new feed mills being set up across the state.
"Currently, 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 metric tonne capacity. This is being done to support milk procurement network as a single cattle requires one kilogram cattle feed daily besides green and dry fodder," GCMMF's managing director R S Sodhi said on Wednesday.
The new production lines are to be up and running 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 aggregate investment funds is approximately Rs 500 crore.
With two feed mills, Mehsana's Dudhsagar Dairy currently has the highest compound feed for cattle production capacity capable of 1,400 MT a day followed by Anand's Amul Dairy which runs a compound feed production line with 1,050 MT a day production capacity.
Banas Dairy produces 600 MT of compound feed for cattle a day while Sabar Dairy runs a plant with 450 MT production capacity. Surat-based Sumul Dairy runs a plant with 300 MT production capacity whereas both Ahmedabad's Aabad Dairy and Panchamrut Dairy have 100 MT production capacity each. Vadodara-based Baroda Dairy has 150 MT a day production capacity. Valsad's Vasudhara Dairy has leased a production line from where it secures 50 MT compound feed for cattle.
It's approximated that to meet Gujarat's milk production which currently stands at about 2.40 crore litres of milk per day, the sector needs 20,000 MT of cattle feed daily.
Of the aggregate milk production, 50 pct goes to the organized sector which needs at the least ten thousand MT pf compound feed for cattle every day.
