The Works

| 2002 |

Goa Dairy all set to cream the competition

Feni, arguably the most popular liquid produced in Goa, could soon be under threat.

Once considered an unlikely rival, milk production in the State has grown in leaps and bounds — both in quality and quantity —and is all set to cream the competition.

And a large part of this success can be attributed to the Goa Diary at Curti-Ponda.

After generating a five-fold boost in milk procurement in the State, the Goa Dairy is now poised to invest Rs 8 crore into infrastructure for the next five years.

“Goa Dairy certainly has a bright future and is one of the best unions in the country,” insists Goa Dairy Managing Director P K Ghate.

Ghate’s claim was confirmed on April 11, when Goa Dairy became only the third co-operative dairy in the country to be awarded the mnemonic symbol by the NDDB, for upgrading its standards of milk production.

“This prestigious symbol is only given to those dairy co-operatives in the country who maintain a high standard of milk production and distribution,” says Ghate.

The curdle-to-cream story of Goa Dairy unfolded when the government lifted controls in dairy production in 1992, prompting private dairy producers to enter into the market.

Given their superior production and marketing skills, private dairy firms soon began to eat into the business of the dairy co-operatives.

Not to be left behind, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) laid down certain guidelines for co-operatives to maintain a high standard in production and distribution of milk.

“We were expected to follow a number of conditions. Firstly, we were supposed to maintain cleanliness right from procurement, production, storage, packaging and transportation of milk. Co-operatives were also expected to maintain utmost hygiene,” explains Ghate.

Eager to be among the best dairies in the country, Goa Dairy decided to make concerted efforts to ensure clean milk production, hygienic processing and efficient ways of distribution.

This exercise was by no means a simple task, as Goa Dairy had to overcome a number of hurdles, both natural and artificial.

“The environment in Goa is simply not conducive for milk production,” admits Ghate. “While fodder is not readily available in the State, we do not have a distinct milch breed of animals, unlike in other states.”

“Besides these factors, Goans are not solely employed in this field and do not show eagerness to pursue this trade,” Ghate added.

But instead of giving up, Goa Dairy took up the challenge of transforming the face of Dairy production in Goa.

“First, we decided to give maximum incentives to the farmers by paying them Rs 11 per litre, the highest in the country,” said the Goa Dairy MD.

The Goa Dairy then decided to supply free 1,000 metric tonnes of cattle feed regularly to all its 17,500 families in the 166 societies, a feature practiced by only a few dairies in the country.

“We also decided to provide specialised veterinary health care to the farmers,” informed Ghate. “Besides opening a vet centre at its main office, the Goa Dairy also started two centres at Colvale and Sanvordem. Doctors at this centre are available to farmers round the clock.”

In a bid to create a high milch breed in the State, the Goa Dairy started the Artificial Insemination (AI) programme.

“Twenty AI workers have been given frozen semen sent by the NDDB and each worker is expected to monitor activities of five societies. Cows are then artificially inseminated with the frozen semen, which helps create a specialised milch breed,” says Ghate.

The final act by the Goa Dairy was to educate the farmers in the State.

“As many as 10 male supervisors and 5 female instructors were trained at the NDDB to visit the farmers and guide them on the health, diet and cleanliness of their animals,” informed Ghate.

The efforts of the Goa Dairy paid rich dividends last year.

“Milk procurement in the State in 2001 shot up by 25 lakh litres, while the earlier growth was only about 5 lakh litres,” said Ghate. “This year, we expect milk procurement to increase even more.”

And the mnemonic symbol was an instant hit for the Goa Dairy.

“Daily milk sales rose by 5,000 litres, after we were awarded the mnemonic symbol,” said Baburao Dessai, Goa Dairy chairman.

At present, statistics still indicate that milk collection in the State is barely over half of the milk sales.

“Goa Diary has recorded an average milk collection of 47,814 litres each day, with Sattari (9,267 litres) and Tiswadi (712 litres) accounting for the highest and lowest figures respectively,” informed Dessai.

“However as far as the daily milk sale is concerned, an average of 88,134 litres of milk is sold all over the State, with maximum consumers located in Mapusa (21,033 litres) and Panjim (20,446 litres),” the chairman added.

But given the rapid growth in milk procurement, Goa Dairy is confident of achieving total self sufficiency within the next four years.

“Once we are able to procure enough milk in the State to meet the demand, we will then concentrate on milk products such as ice-creams,” says Dessai.

At present, Goa Dairy produces ghee, butter, flavoured milk, lassi and curds. A masala butter milk ‘Chaach’ has also been introduced recently by the Goa Dairy.

Following a suggestion by Deputy Chief Minister Ravi Naik, the Goa Dairy has also been seriously considering packaging mineral water.

“We have the necessary equipment to package and distribute mineral water at a cheaper price than those available in the market,” claims Ghate.

Given its bright future, the Goa Dairy has also proposed plans to invest in developing its infrastructure.

“The Goa Dairy has made a budgetary provision of Rs 8 crore for the next five years,” informs Ghate, “to purchase equipment such as boilers, refrigerators and pasteurisers. We also hope to purchase vehicles with fully insulated containers.”

In fact, the Goa Dairy also intends to install two silos (vertical tanks) — with a combined storage capacity of 1 lakh litres of milk — by next year.

Despite being the market leaders in milk production in the State, the Goa Dairy is hardly taking things lightly.

“We have already begun awareness campaigns in schools and colleges. Most students don’t know the difference between the different types of milk,” notes Ghate.

“Besides such campaigns, we have also started consumer melas to get feedback from our customers. Many of them suggested that we should supply milk twice a day and in many areas we have already implemented this suggestion,” the MD adds.

If Goa Dairy felt it was unstoppable and could afford to rest on its laurels, an incident on April 1 quickly put an end to this myth.

Transport operators refused to supply milk to the different parts of the State shortly after midnight, following clashes with security guards at Curti.

The experience was indeed sour. As many as 88,000 litres of milk were left stranded at the Goa Dairy plant that day.

Goa Dairy officials were quick to realise that strict quality control at the plant would be meaningless if steps were not taken to ensure transportation of the product to the consumers.

“Following that incident, we have made alternate arrangements to avoid such a situation from occurring again,” informed Dessai.

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