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National Milk Grid

The operation Flood – II, which began in 1981 aimed at building a National Milk Grid linking 136 rural milk sheds in 22 states and union territories with the Urban demand centers in the country and creating infrastructure required to support a viable dairy industry. Milk Grid takes care of the surplus milk within the State, where the milk from the surplus area/district is transferred to the deficient area.

Under such a situation, it is termed as State Milk Grid. When the surplus milk from one state within the region is transferred from surplus states to the deficient state it is called a Regional Milk Grid. Transportation of milk from the surplus region to the deficient region is called National Milk Grid.

National Milk Grid now in operation in India is capable of transporting large quantities of pasteurized milk across long distances in hygienic conditions by rail or road tankers. For example, insulated rail tankers carrying 40000 litres of milk, routinely move from Anand or Guntur or Jalagaon to Calcutta, covering distances of 1500 to 2000 km. in 30 to 40 hours, with only a 2 0 C rise in the milk temperature. This takes place in a developing country where, traditionally, a paucity of transportation and infrastructure facilities has restricted the reach of fresh produce to potential markets.

At present, one rake of 60 wagons each ply milk between Anand and destinations such as Delhi, Calcutta and Guwahati each week. To that extent, the National Milk Grid exists and it connects all the four metros and about 500 towns that come in between, the nerve center being Anand in Gujarat. The milk procurement by the 12 district member unions of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) stood at 44.19 lakh litres per day in 2000-01.

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