Union Home Minister and Minister for Cooperation, Amit Shah called for a transformation in the cooperative sector by bringing agriculture, dairy farmers all on board in building collective wealth.

“Till 75 years, if there is no assessment of work for a cooperative, then required improvements and changes wouldn’t be made. This leads them to become obsolete. Hence, Cooperative sector requires a transformation. Formation of the cooperation ministry is a need identified at the right time,” Shah said adding that a charter of objects for the Ministry is under preparation and will have the motto of generating wealth through cooperation.

“In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of becoming a $5-trillion economy, cooperative sector will have a significant contribution,” added Shah.

Since its inception in 1946 with a mere 250 litres of daily milk procurement, Amul has today reached to about 300 lakh litres per day of milk processing capacities with a collective turnover of the 18-member dairy unions crossing ₹53,000 crore for 2020-21. This provides livelihood to as many as 36 lakh dairy families in Gujarat.

Shah asked Amul to share its success experience beyond dairy and for other agri-value chain cooperatives.

“Many farmers in other cooperative sectors are producing organic and natural agri products but they do not have a marketing platform. Can Amul and other cooperatives provide them a platform that can help them market their products? So that these organic products can be sold in the international market and benefit our small farmers,” he said.

Shah, in presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Union Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala, launched a scheme for dairy entrepreneurs and dairy sector ‘Dairy Sahakar’ with support from National Cooperative Development Corporation, under the aegis of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Ministry of Cooperation. The scheme will have a corpus of ₹5,000 crore, to be provided as financial assistance for the dairy sector.

The Minister also launched a branded organic fertiliser, an ethno veterinary supplement plant and Amul’s cheese warehouse with storage capacity of 2,500 tonnes.

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