Amul marketer Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) will soon start work for a new 20 lakh litres per day (LLPD) milk processing plant near Rajkot, creating additional processing capacity for the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to virtually perform ground-breaking for the Rs 500-crore plant next week.
The plant, considered a common mega-dairy for the Saurashtra region, will be set up at Gadhka village in the Rajkot district. The Saurashtra region, comprising 11 districts, collectively produces milk to the tune of about 35 lakh litres per day. But only about 10-12 lakh litres per day of milk gets processed at the existing co-operative dairy facilities available with Rajkot district union, Amreli district union, and Surendranagar district Union among others.
The majority of the milk, according to dairy leaders, has to be transported to Amul Fed dairy in Gandhinagar for processing on daily basis. This takes about 8-10 hours from the milking of the animal till the milk reaches the processing center in Gandhinagar. Further, many value-added products travel back to the Saurashtra market causing an escalation in transportation costs thereby resulting in reduced remunerations for the milk producers of the region.