Union Agriculture Minister inaugurates Bapudham MPC's farmer orientation programme at Champaran

Anand, 8 July 2018: Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Hon'ble Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India inaugurated Bapudham Milk Producer Company's farmer orientation programme at Champaran, Bihar on
8 July 2018 in presence of Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The programme was attended by around 1000 milk producers from Champaran.

The event mainly focused on educating the dairy farmers on scientific animal rearing practices for improving productivity of milch animals and encourage them to be a part of producer-centric organisations. The training sessions were facilitated by experts from NDDB, NDDB Dairy Services and NCDFI.

The Hon'ble Union Agriculture Minister informed that Mother Dairy
Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd. (MDFVPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of NDDB brought transparency and fairness in milk procurement operations and marketing practices in the area. Subsequently, another subsidiary of NDDB, NDDB Dairy Services (NDS), organized the farmers and facilitated the incorporation of Bapudham Milk Producer Company (MPC) on 12 April 2017. The MPC started its operation on 2 October, 2017 and
presently covers East and West Champaran districts.

In nine months Bapudham MPC has enrolled more than 17000 members from about 358 villages and procures around 30000 Kg milk per day. The MPC has paid about Rs. 20 crore to its producer members directly in their bank accounts. The MPC has fully automatic village based milk collection system for milk weighment and Fat & SNF testing in presence of farmers. The MPC also has GPRS based real time data transfer system
to calculate milk payments and sending SMS to farmers. The MPC makes milk payment to farmers directly in their bank accounts in every 10 days cycle.

Shri Dilip Rath said that the Hon’ble Union Agriculture Minister has
played a key role in providing market access to the dairy farmers of Champaran and ensuring remunerative returns for milk.

Chairman NDDB informed that under National Dairy Plan I, NDDB has approved funding of Rs. 22 crore to the MPC for implementation of Village Based Milk Procurement Systems. The MPC aims to increase coverage to 1000 villages and procure about 1.60 lakh litre milk per day from around 50,000 milk producers by fifth year.

In February the Hon'ble Union Minister laid foundation stone for
MDFVPL's upcoming modern milk processing plant at Motihari of East Champaran district. The proposed facility will have a capacity of handling 1 lakh litres of milk per day.

The MPC has also initiated productivity enhancement services such as Artificial Insemination, Ration Balancing Programme, supply of cattle feed & mineral mixture, fodder development in its operational area. In addition, the MPC is also creating awareness about scientific dairy management practices. Currently, about 358 villages have been covered under productivity enhancement services.