Adilabad: ITDA-Utnoor encourages tribals to reap benefits of dairy

ITDA-Utnoor is encouraging tribals to venture into the dairy sector to help them achieve financial growth

Adilabad: The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA)-Utnoor is encouraging tribals to venture into the dairy sector to help them achieve financial growth, by providing cattle at subsidized prices through various schemes.

“Special measures are being taken to develop the dairy industry in tribal habitations in erstwhile Adilabad district. The agency has already identified 30 villages to implement the initiative on an experimental basis. Joint Liability Groups (JLG) comprising tribals will be formed soon. The groups will be provided cattle at subsidized rates,” ITDA-Utnoor project officer K Varun Reddy told ‘Telangana Today.’

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According to agency officials, every village will contribute 300 litres of milk a day. Incentives would be extended to dairy farmers, who would also be taken to Gujarat to expose them to success stories.

They would be trained in enhancing productivity, fodder and percentage of fat in the milk. Twenty electronic Milkotesters worth Rs.8 lakh would also be supplied to the farmers soon.

Due to encouragement and support of Collector Rahul Raj and the then additional collector Varun Reddy, tribals belonging to seven villages of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district have forayed into the dairy, an unconventional sector for the Adivasis. They are now able to produce 1,800 litres per day.

Vijaya Dairy lays special focus on tribals

Meanwhile, Vijaya Dairy is laying a special focus on expanding its operations in the tribal hinterland. It is establishing a dairy parlour centre and bulk milk cooling unit (BMCU) with a capacity of 3,000 litres in Utnoor mandal centre for the convenience of farmers in tribal habitations.

Work on the two facilities have reached the final stage. It has already established a 1000 litre-BMCU in Asifabad town to collect milk from tribal villages under the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) in 2021.