Budget 2017: Dairy farmers’ income to double with infrastructure allocation

NEW DELHI: The Finance Minister’s announcement of allocating a fund of Rs 8,000 crore over a period of three years for dairy processing infrastructure is expected to generate an estimated Rs 50,000 crore worth of annual extra income for dairy farmers.

“This is the first time after independence that such a large fund has been allocated for the dairy sector. It will have a cascading effect on rural incomes,” Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) managing director RS Sodhi said.

He said the dairy processing infrastructure fund under NABARD will create an additional milk processing capacity of 500 lakh litres per day. “This will lead to 50 per cent increase in income of dairy farmers annually,” Sodhi said.