Hajipur dairy project on the anvil

HAJIPUR: After the Patna Dairy Project in Bihar, it is the turn of agriculture dominated Vaishali district to take a leap in the field of dairying. At the initiative of Union rural development minister and sitting RJD MP from Vaishali, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a Rs 12 crore mega project to establish the Hajipur dairy farm of 10 million tonnes capacity has been prepared by the district administration and sent for approval to the concerned ministry.
Talking to TNN, the DM, H R Srinivas said that the proposed Hajipur dairy project would herald a new milk revolution and would also generate rural employment.More than 1 lakh litres of milk would be procured by the dairy from 554 village-level district milk co-operative societies per day. Giving the details of the project, Srinivas said, more than 62000 litres of milk is procured daily from different parts of the district.
In Bihar, Vaishali district produces the maximum amount of milk and about 38,000 rural families are involved in milk production, said Srinivas. According to official sources, 554 village level district milk co-operative societies are functioning. On an average, 62,000 litres of milk are sent to the dairy farm located near Hajipur based industrial estate for preparation of various milk products.
Out of the 38,000 rural families involved in dairying here, 59 per cent are from other backward castes, 6 per cent from scheduled caste and 29 per cent are women, said Srinivas.
Vaishali district has witnessed a remarkable growth of 171 per cent in milk production in the last 10 years. In 2003-04, 62,893 litres of milk worth Rs 24.10 lakh was procured from different co-operative societies.
With the establishment of Hajipur dairy project, 200 additional co-operative societies would be opened, which will generate huge income to the rural population.
Speaking to TNN, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that the district milk co-operative society is functioning here from 1982 and 31 per cent of the rural population gets directly benefited from milk production and milking cattle.
The new Hajipur dairy project will generate an income of Rs 15.33 lakh per annum here, said Singh.
Apart from this, milk-parlours on the line of New Delhi based milk booths will be opened in sub-urban and urban areas for market outlet of milk, said the DM.
At present, out of a total of 25.28 lakh population, 31 per cent people have 0.97 lakh milking cattle and the population of cattle is likely to increase.