Milma working on strategies to scale up milk production, says KS Mani on World Milk Day

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 1 June 2024: Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), known by its brand Milma, is working on a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen the state’s cooperative dairy sector and attain self-sufficiency in milk production, as envisaged by the State Government, Milma Chairman K S Mani said today.

Enhancing productivity and supporting the dairy farmers burdened by increase in input cost, are the key components in this process, Shri Mani said in an article to mark World Milk Day, observed on June 1.

The state government has been implementing several projects to increase milk production and meet the entire domestic demand. The three-tier local self-government institutions play a vital role in the delivery of these schemes and enhance productivity while ensuring the welfare of the farmers. Milma on its part has initiated several measures with the support of the Government, Shri Mani said.

Milma has made a significant turnaround from the grim challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, posting a higher turnover of Rs. 4,311 crores in 2023-24, with the strategic brand re-positioning initiative yielding handsome results.

Milma provides the highest milk procurement price to farmers despite the fact that the dairy sector in Kerala incurs the highest input cost. This calls for formulation of effective measures to reduce the input cost while attempting to increase productivity to achieve self-sufficiency in milk production.

Bridging the gap between domestic milk production and demand is a priority issue for Milma, he said. “Milma procured an average 10.31 lakhs litres of milk a day in April 2024, which increased to 11.96 lakh litres in May, while the sales stood at 17.56 lakh litres. Going forward, our focus will be on attaining self-sufficiency in milk production to meet the entire demand,” Shri Mani said.

The cooperative dairy movement has made remarkable contributions in India, becoming the world’s largest producer of milk and accounting for 24.64 pc of the global production, Shri Mani said.

The seminal contributions of pioneers of the dairy cooperative movement like Shri Tribhuvandas Patel and the father of India’s White Revolution, Dr. Verghese Kurien were especially significant in this remarkable journey, he said.

“The strides that India made in the dairy sector have, in turn, brought about a qualitative socio-economic transformation across the country, especially in the rural area,” he said.

Milma, which has scrupulously followed the foundational ideals of cooperative federalism, has now over 10 lakh dairy farmers affiliated to its network of around 3300 primary milk cooperative societies, organised under its three regional unions --- Malabar, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.

“Repositioning Milma 2023”, the brand makeover initiative launched by KCMMF last year saw the launch of a variety of new products like chocolates, butter biscuits and ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat instant mixes besides standardising the price, quality and packaging of liquid milk, curd and other dairy staples from the three regional unions. This process has imparted a big thrust to the market expansion of Milma,” Shri Mani said.

These include such coveted honours as being recognised for procuring the best quality milk; award for meritorious performance as a dairy federation; award for energy conservation award, being acclaimed as India’s first dairy federation to implement an insurance cover to mitigate climate change impact, and last but not the least, the Prime Minister’s mention for popularising Ayurveda-based veterinary medicines.

“Milma’s strength and reputation are built on two strong pillars--- its total commitment to the dairy farmers and the tremendous goodwill of its customers, comprising largely of millions of households,” he said.