Bihar State Milk Co-operative Federation
The Bihar State Milk Co-Operative Federation Ltd is a dairy cooperative, established in 1983 as an enterprise of the Government of Bihar, India. It markets its products under the label "Sudha Dairy". The co-operative facilitates the procurement, processing, and marketing of dairy products. It provides education to the unions on efficient dairy processing, and assists them with animal care including artificial insemination, vaccination, and feeding.[1]
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 A view of the dairy plant of Patna | |
| Type | Cooperative |
|---|---|
| Industry | Dairy |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Headquarters | Patna, Bihar |
| Products | Milk and its Products |
| Owner | Government Of Bihar |
| Parent | Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (Bihar) |
| Website | sudha.coop |
History
The Dairy co-operative was founded in 1983 to coordinate the work of various local milk unions. The government opened Nalanda dairy in 2013 which is the Largest Automation based Dairy Plant in Eastern India. The establishment of Sudha was a result of White Revolution.
Organization
Eight district level Milk Producers' Cooperative Unions are affiliated to the Federation. These unions cover Thirty Eight districts. In addition, Rest of Areas are covered directly by the Federation. They are:
- Vaishali Patliputra Milk Union, Patna covering Patna, Vaishali, Nalanda, Saran and Sheikhpura districts.
- DR Milk Union (DRMU), Barauni covering Begusarai, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, and part of Patna Districts.
- Tirhut Milk Union (TIMUL), Muzaffarpur covering Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, East Champaran (Motihari), Chakia, West Champaran, Siwan, and Gopalganj.
- Mithila Milk Union, Samastipur covering Samastipur, Darbhanga & Madhubani, Basopatti districts.
- Shahabad Milk Union, Ara covering Bhojpur, Buxar, Kaimur & Rohtas districts.
- Vikramshila Milk Union (VIMUL), Bhagalpur: Covering Bhagalpur, Munger, Banka and Jamui Districts.
- kosi milk union, supaul : covering Supaul, saharsa, purnea, kishanganj
- magadh milk union, gaya : covering gaya, aurangabad, jahanabad, arwal
The dairy development work continued and at present there are eight district level milk unions covering thirty Eight districts of Bihar. Comfed develops the districts first in terms of dairy development coupled with capacity development of milk producers to shoulder broader responsibilities and then hands over the entire operations to the representatives democratically elected by the milk producers.
Comfed is serving the consumers of not only in Bihar but also in Jharkhand and there are three dairies at Jamshedpur, Ranchi and Bokaro. These dairies are serving a good number of towns and cities of Jharkhand in Ranchi, East & West Singhbhoom, Hazaribagh, Gumla, Khunti, Palamu, Lohardaga, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Giridih etc. Sudha Milk and some products are available in Delhi/NCR region and Uttarakhand also apart from a number of towns and cities of U.P. and West Bengal.Comfed is now also serving in North-Eastern states like Assam, meghalaya, Nagaland etc.
The Farmer's Training Centre at Patna, Barauni and Begusarai provides training to the milk producers and society functionaries in various aspects of dairying, clean milk production, society operation, artificial insemination etc.
Products and impact
The Milk Federation operates Nalanda dairy, a fully automated dairy plant at Bihar Sharif of Nalanda district that opened in 2013. Its products are marketed by parent organization Comfed, Patna. The Nalanda dairy has tetra pak and elecster machines which are used for packaging of UHT processed milk, juice and flavored milk with a long shelf life. This is the first fully automated dairy plant of eastern India.
Sudha has witnessed growth in this portfolio, especially long life UHT products for urban populations. They undergo UHT treatment to remove all micro-organisms while retaining nutrition. Sudha sells around 4-5,00,000 liters of UHT milk and other value-added products per month. UHT products have enabled Sudha to position itself as the market leader in packaged milk segment without the need for maintaining cold supply chains.
References
- Rao, V.M. (2005). Co-operatives and dairy development : changing destiny of rural women (1st ed.). New Delhi: Mittal Publications. p. 21. ISBN 978-81-8324-002-4.