The annual general body meeting of the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, known by its brand name Milma, has adopted a growth-oriented budget for 2023-24 pegging the revenue at ₹680.50 crore and expenditure at ₹679.28 crore, anticipating a surplus of ₹1.22 crore during the financial year.
The AGM also adopted resolutions covering a wide range of key issues relating to the milk sector in the State. The budget made allocations for Milma’s cattle feed factories at Pattanakkad and Malampuzha, Central Products Dairy at Alappuzha, and the headquarters expenses, besides making provisions to ensure remunerative returns to farmers and initiatives to step up productivity.
The surplus budget will definitely help Milma achieve further growth overcoming the challenges on the way. The AGM also took an overview of the dairy scenario and came out with fruitful suggestions to strengthen the ecosystem by increasing productivity and attracting youths to dairy farming, besides identifying live issues that need to be addressed with the support of the state and central governments, Milma Chairman K S Mani said.
The meeting noted that the brand repositioning initiative launched by KCMMF has contributed significantly to increase in sales of Milma’s products.
The meeting, however, held that considering the sharp decline in procurement of milk, effective steps needed to be taken to improve productivity and reduce the input cost with the support of the government and allied agencies, besides launching schemes to attract the young generation to the dairy sector.
The AGM also adopted resolutions seeking implementation of a comprehensive insurance cover for all milch animals and a scheme to offset interest on bank loans availed by farmers for purchase of livestock.
Resolutions were also adopted covering a wide range of issues like reforming the licence provisions for dairy activities, exemption from GST on dairy products and audit cost, and exempting milk co-operative societies from income tax.
The meeting also sought financial assistance from the Central government for cultivation of silage, green fodder and maize, inclusion of dairy farming under the purview of employment guarantee schemes.
Source : The Hindu Business Line Sep 17th 2023