Gujarat based Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (Sumul) is planning to sell vegetables through its outlets spread across Surat and Tapi districts of Gujarat. The plan was revealed by its Chairman Mansinhbhai Patel in a telephonic conversation with Indian Cooperative correspondent on the phone.
Sumul is one of the milk unions associated with Gujarat Milk Marketing Cooperative Federation (GCMMF) which sells its products under the brand name of Amul.
“We are making a plan to collect the raw vegetables directly from the farmers and will sell them through our selling centers spread across Surat and Tapi districts of Gujarat. It will not only give the farmers good returns but also help in fulfilling our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of doubling farmers’ income”, Patel said.
It bears recall that the Prime Minister has given a similar call a couple of days ago saying “We must increase the number of Agro-Industries Clusters near the village so that the people of the village can get employment related to farming in the village itself” said the Prime Minister.
“Like we are collecting milk directly from milk farmers by making societies modelled after the societies of farmer producers and collecting raw vegetables from them”, Patel explained
In order to tackle the issue of standardization, the dairy giant has devised a way to grade the produce. Talking to Indian Cooperative Patel said “Besides we will also do the grading and packaging of the vegetables. We hope that it will start soon”, Patel added.
He further added that perhaps it will be the first milk union affiliated to GCMMF which will sell vegetables. In the process customers will get fresh vegetables directly from the farm.
The idea was to break the middleman chain and give farmers good returns on their produce. Sumul Dairy is procuring milk from Surat and Tapi to the tune of more than 16 lakh liter every day.
Readers would recall that earlier during the lockdown, Sumul Dairy had launched “Immune Power Plus” an immunity booster to boost the immune system against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.