Shimla, Oct 29 The Himachal Pradesh government on Thursday announced doubling the incentive for milk producers in the state from Rs 3 to Rs 6 per litre.
The state has earmarked Rs 14 crore for the enhanced Milk Incentive Scheme. Now, eligible producers supplying milk to non-government dairy cooperative societies will receive an incentive of Rs 6 per litre through direct benefit transfer, an official statement said.
The state government has been taking several steps to strengthen the dairy sector by ensuring remunerative prices for milk producers and improving milk procurement, processing and marketing infrastructure. However, milk producers associated with private dairy cooperative societies were not receiving similar incentive support.
To address this disparity and extend greater financial assistance to such producers, the state government introduced the Milk Incentive Scheme, initially providing an incentive of Rs 3 per litre, which has now been enhanced to Rs 6 per litre, according to the statement.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the enhancement of the incentive would provide additional financial support to eligible milk producers and extend the benefits of the state’s dairy development initiatives to a wider section of farming families.
He said that the government has focused on making agriculture and allied activities, including dairy farming, economically viable and attractive, particularly for small and marginal farmers.
The government would continue to introduce farmer-friendly initiatives to increase milk production, strengthen cooperative institutions and improve the procurement and marketing network for milk and milk products, the chief minister said.
The decision, in line with the budget announcement, aims to strengthen the rural economy, improve farmers’ income and promote dairy farming as a sustainable livelihood, particularly in rural and remote areas of Himachal Pradesh, the statement added.
(PTI News)
