ANAND, 17 July 2021: Hailing the Gujarat government for supporting state milk producer during the time of Coid with assistance on Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP), Shamalbhai B Patel, Chairman, Amul Federation said INR 50 per kg Covid assistance was a remarkable and a very timely & sensitive decision.

During the last financial year in spite of all difficulties, member unions continued milk procurement. However, during the Covid pandemic most of the private players, hotel and restaurant were closed which adversely impacted milk consumption.

In such situation also, member unions of Gujarat procured around 3.5 million liters to 4 million liters more milk per day compared to last year and member unions of Gujarat have not reduced milk procurement price paid to milk producer members.

Looking at this situation, state government decided to assist 3.6 million milk producer members by announcing INR 50 per kg COVID assistance scheme for export of Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP).

 Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (Amul Federation) is India's largest food product organization. More than 18,600 Village Dairy Co-operative Societies of rural Gujarat and 18 district level member unions are affiliated with Amul Federation. These 18,600 Village Dairy Co-operative Societies are procuring on an average around 250 Lakhs Liters of milk. The procured milk is manufactured in 87 dairy plants and marketed under brand "Amul" in all over India and exported to more than 50 countries.

Expressing gratitude to chief minister Vijaybhai Rupani and deputy chief minister Nitinbhai Patel, he said the move by the Gujarat government would maintain the price of skimmed milk powder across India and stop Gujarat milk producers from losing an estimated INR 800 crore to INR 1,000 crore.

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