Bill to Ensure Quality of Cattle Feed on Cards: Minister Chinchurani

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala Government has plans to bring in a legislation to ensure the quality of cattle feed sold in the state with in-built regulatory mechanisms, Minister for Animal Husbandry & Dairy Development J Chinchurani said today.

Launching the Milma Gomathi Gold Cattle Feed gift coupon scheme, which offers benefits worth more than Rs 3 crore for dairy farmers, at Milma Bhavan here, the Minister said the Government is also mulling to come out with a project for producing the ingredients of cattle feed in the state, which would ensure high quality cattle feed at affordable prices for dairy farmers. Smt. Chinchurani said that the proposed Bill would be introduced in the next Assembly session.

“Through the proposed Bill, we are planning to implement a quality control regime to ensure the standard of cattle feed and supply of it to farmers,” Chinchurani said.

“The frequent rise in prices of cattle feed is a burden on farmers. We are unable to produce sufficient quantity of cattle feed here due to non-availability of ingredients. Now the government is looking into the possibilities of producing the ingredients within the state itself to address the issue,” the Minister said.

“We have to reduce the input cost to attract more farmers to dairy sector. Also, more projects aimed at the welfare of farmers need to be drawn up,” Chinchurani added.

On the occasion, the Minister handed over the model gift coupon to K S Mani, Chairman, Milma.

In his presidential address, Mani said the gift coupon scheme was launched as part of Milma’s promotional activities to support the hard-pressed farmers as it will help them reduce the production cost.

Milma Managing Director Dr Patil Suyog Subhash Rao welcomed the gathering. N Bhasurangan, Convener, Administrative Committee, Thiruvananthapuram Co-operative Milk Producers Union (TRCMPU), proposed a vote of thanks.

V.P. Suresh Kumar, Director (In-Charge), Dairy Development Department; and John Theruvath, Chairman, Ernakulam Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union, also spoke.

Milma board members and regional union office-bearers were also present. The function was live-steamed on Facebook for the Milk cooperatives and dairy farmers across the state.

With each sack of Milma Gold cattle feed, dairy farmers will get a gift coupon worth Rs 250, which can be used for buying Milma’s milk products and Milmamin mineral mixture. Under this scheme, Milma is planning to sell more than Rs 3 crore-worth Milma products and Milmamin to dairy farmers through milk cooperative societies across Kerala.

When milk cooperatives order for a total of 50 bags of Gomathi Gold cattle feed, they will get a Rs 500 coupon. Upto Rs 8,000-worth coupons will be given to a maximum order of 350 bags. Based on increase in sale, milk cooperatives that secure from the first to fifth positions in each district will be given Rs 15,000 (first prize), Rs 10,000 (second), Rs 9,000 (third), Rs 5,000 (fourth) and Rs 4,000 (fifth) respectively.

The gift coupon scheme will be available from October 1 till December 31, 2021. Dairy farmers can avail their coupons to buy Milma products and Milmamin till February 28, 2022.

Milma Gomathi Gold, which is a BIS Type 2 quality cattle feed, is rich in mineral mixture required for high yield of milk. It contains five types of best oil cakes that help for easy digestion. The new cattle feed is being manufactured at Milma’s state-of-the-art plants at Thuravur and Malampuzha, adhering to strict quality control tests.