By IANS,
Mumbai : Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Friday urged Maharashtra milk producers to unite under a single brand to improve promotion and marketing akin to Amul in neighbouring Gujarat.
“Maharashtra has Gokul, Warna and Aarey brands and a vast infrastructure but poor production for milk. In Gujarat, all milk co-operatives supply their product directly to Amul, which markets them very well,” Pawar said.
He added that he recently inaugurated Amul’s five lakh litre capacity plant in Haryana, which would use milk from Gujarat.
Although Haryana and Punjab are self-sufficient in milk production, Amul has made inroads in those states and is now planning to set up dairies in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra.
“I asked them to focus on areas where milk collection was weak and leave the Maharashtra markets to local brands. But Amul is set to make an entry here as it sees a very good market potential that Maharashtra has not been able to exploit,” Pawar said.
Pawar was speaking at the inauguration of an ultra-high temperature milk processing and tetra packaging plant at Mahanand Dairy, Asia’s largest cow milk dairy in Goregaon, north-west Mumbai.
“This packaged milk will be a boon for Mumbaikars and will give better remuneration to milk farmers,” said Mahanand Dairy chairperson Vaishali Nagawade.
A venture of Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Dudh Mahasangh Maryadit, Mahanand Dairy sells 550,000 litres milk daily across the state and Goa.