During the Eastern and North-Eastern Cooperative Dairy Conclave 2022 in Gangtok, many state level and a few district level dairy co-ops bagged the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India Ltd (NCDFI) awards.
The awards were given by Union home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in the presence of Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, NDDB Chairman Meenesh Shah, among others.
The first prize was bagged by Sikkim Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited as the Best Performing Dairy Cooperative from East and Northeast regions whereas second and third were secured by West Assam Milk Union (Wamul) and Mother Dairy, Kolkata, West Bengal, respectively.
On behalf of the Sikkim Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, P. Senthil Kumar, IFS, Secretary of Animal Husbandry-cum-Managing Director Chairman Yam Kumar Sharma took the award. It is said that Sikkim collects around 2.30 Lakh litres per day of which over 50,000LPD is procured and processed by the Sikkim Milk Union (SMU).
The second award winner, West Assam Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union, which sells its dairy products under the brand name of Purabi, its Managing Director SB Bose received the award. Sabyasachi Roy, Senior Manager NDDB, Mother Dairy, Kolkata got the award for securing third position as the best performing dairy cooperative.
The other winners include Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation (Sudha), Jharkhand Milk Cooperative
Federation (Medha), Dimapur Dist. Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd (DIMUL), Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation and Bhagirathi Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd.
While addressing the participants at the dairy conclave, Shah applauded the commendable performance of Sikkim in developing initiatives to empower farmers, women, and dairy cooperatives to boost the rural economy.
The milk production is the only way for women empowerment, poverty alleviation and doubling of farmer’s income and it gives great peace of mind and a feeling of joy to see the production of two lakh litres of milk per day by small farmer brothers in Sikkim, he added.
