Aavin to step up milk production in TN

The Tamil Nadu Milk Producers’ Federation (Aavin) plans to augment daily milk procurement by 8 lakhs litres every day at an estimated Rs 123.73 crores, according to its MD Sunil Paliwal. 

Talking to DTNext , he said, the measures included starting a new dairy in Perambalur with an installed capacity of 1 lakh litres per day at a cost of Rs 36.28 crores. 

Similarly, the capacity of the Chennai city unit would be expanded by 1 lakh litres to 13.50 lakh litres at Rs 27.45 crore, expanding the Coimbatore dairy by 3 lakh litres daily at an estimated Rs 46 crore and increasing the capacity of the Madurai dairy by 2 lakhs litres daily to 5 lakh litres at a cost of Rs 14 crores. All measures would be completed before May end, he said. 

The daily production capacity of the ice cream plant at the Ambattur dairy is being increased to 15,000 litres. Starting with marketing 5,000 litres initially, the unit plans total capacity sales in two years, he said. While this was estimated at Rs 34 crore, a fermented products plant costing Rs 10 crore was planned for butter milk, lassi and curds in the same venue, he added. 

In a bid to ensure streamlined transport of milk products, the federation has ordered for 5 refrigerated vans and 15 PUF (polyurethane foam) insulated tankers at an estimated Rs 4 crore. 

They will hit the roads at February end. Aavin has also recruited 75 full time drivers to handle additions to its fleet, Paliwal said. 

Similarly, the federation will add 61 tankers to the existing fleet at a cost of Rs 15.25 crores. While 40 are already on road, the rest are being readied, he added. 

Referring to recent floods which affected the Ambattur plant for eight days and the Sholinganallur plant for a day as workers were unable to reach the unit due to approach roads being inundated, he said, roads inside the Ambattur unit had been raised by three feet (maximum flood level) while utilities like the EB panels, switchboards and generators would be shifted to a flood free location inside the campus, he added. 

On the milk sales front, he said the city’s daily demand of 23 lakhs litres for 87 lakhs population based on per capita consumption of 265 grams was met through daily milk sales of 11.5 lakh litres. 

Daily milk procurement in the current lean season was 30 lakhs litres a day on average. “The state government increasing procurement price was the reason for high procurement figures” he said. 

“This is impressive as the average during the flush season last year was only 31.50 lakh litres,” he added. This measure is expected to push up procurement in the upcoming flush season also. “TN currently ranks fourth in India in daily procurement after Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra” he ended.