New Delhi, May 20 (UNI) Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired a meeting on sustainability and circularity in the cooperative dairy sector and said that under the 'White Revolution 2.0' sustainable development and circular economy should be ensured in the cooperative dairy sector

During the meeting, it was decided to establish three new multi-state cooperative societies for the cooperative dairy sector. The first society will focus on ‘animal feed production, disease control and artificial insemination’, the second will promote ‘developing cow dung management models’ and the third will promote ‘circular use of dead cattle remains’, an official statement said.

Addressing the meeting, Shah said, "As we move towards White Revolution 2.0, our goal should not only be to expand dairy cooperatives and make them efficient and effective but also to create an ecosystem of dairy that is sustainable and promotes a circular economy. If farmers' income is to be increased, we must create a network of integrated cooperatives where most of the work is done through mutual cooperation and collaboration among cooperatives".

He stressed the importance of ensuring that the direct benefits of carbon credits reach farmers through scientific models. He also highlighted the need to strengthen milk unions and cooperative societies and encourage food processing in dairy plants.

Shah said, "We have to travel together from 'Sustainability to Circularity' which will be multi-dimensional and the work that the private sector is doing today will be done by the farmers' own cooperatives. This includes technical services, animal feed, artificial insemination, animal disease control, dung management and activities from collection to processing in dairy and agriculture related sectors".

Referring to successful cooperative models like Amul, the Minister of Cooperation said that the vision of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” is being realised today and “Cooperation among Cooperatives” is playing an important role in this.

He said that the Ministry of Cooperation and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying have brought all stakeholders together, so that now the work of policy making, financing, formation of village level cooperatives and making them multipurpose is taking place at a fast pace.

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has done very important work in the field of sustainability and the biogas and cow dung management programme developed by them is being expanded across the country. He said that this needs to be taken further.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal Gurjar and Murlidhar Mohol, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Alka Upadhyaya, Chairman of the NDDB, Meenesh Shah, and Chairman of NABARD Shaji KV.

UNI RBE RN