Lauding the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcements on animal husbandry sector under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan made on Friday, dairy major Amul stated that financial outlay for dairy infrastructure would help add about five crore litres of extra milk processing capacities in the country.

R S Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul marketer - Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) stated that the Finance Minister has made an important announcement of ₹15,000 crore dairy infrastructure fund for the establishment of supply chain and dairy plants for enhancing the dairy and milk processing capacity. "With this fund, we can build around 4-5 crore litres of extra capacities. Extra capacity in the organised sector means, more jobs, more livelihood, especially in rural India. This five crore litre will provide a livelihood to approx 30 lakh people in rural India. This is much required when hundreds of thousands of people have migrated back to rural India from the urban centres," Sodhi said in a video message.

Sodhi also stated that the Finance Minister had acknowledged the role of the cooperative sector during the lockdown period.

"In the last 50 days of lockdown, we procured an additional 35 lakh litres of milk per day, which means, we have given around ₹800 crore extra to the rural milk producers. During this 50 days of lockdown, when many industries were under lockdown and generating no business, Amul gave ₹6,000 crore to 36 lakh families of rural India. This was the major source of livelihood to landless and labour class in rural India," he added.

He also welcomed the interest subvention scheme announced by the Finance Minister. "During this lockdown, when cooperatives procured more milk, naturally we had got some extra inventories in SMP and white butter. We have to take loans and credit from banks. The government has announced an interest subvention scheme for cooperatives at 4% interest subvention. This is a great help for cooperatives,"

The ₹13,000 crore push for the removal of FMD and Brucellosis diseases in milch animals is a major announcement because it would save around ₹60,000 crore for farmers, who lost on milk production due to prevalence of this diseases in the animal.

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to build local brands, Sodhi stated that the food sector as many opportunities to make local brands.

"These announcements are going to benefit ten crore rural producers and will encourage labourers and migrants to get into milk production. This will provide a dependable source of livelihood to millions of rural milk producers," he added.

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