Nagpur/New Delhi: At a time when the drought situation has turned the condition of farmers from bad to worse in Vidarbha region including Nagpur, the dairy cooperative giant Amul has shown a ray of hope! In order to help farmers get out of farm crisis and encourage them towards dairy farming for supplementary income, Amul has decided to invest Rs 400 crores in the region. The money will be spent on setting up dairy cooperatives in various areas of Vidarbha.
An information to this regard was given by Nagpur MP and Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari while speaking at a seminar on ‘Liberating Farmers from Debt Trap’.
Gadkari said that during his recent visit to Gujarat he had convinced officials at Amul to help the region.
“They have agreed and will work out the plans soon,” the minister said.
Previously, in 2013, the Maharashtra government too had approached Amul—a dairy cooperative with a turnover of $3.4 billion (2014-15) and with a network of over 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat and elsewhere—to help resolve the farm crisis in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions by either fully diverting farmers to dairy farming or supplementing their income by selling milk.
It may be mentioned that persistent drought has led to crop failure in Vidarbha, affecting farm incomes. Farmers in the region are caught in a debt trap and many have ended their lives.
On average, 3,685 farmers ended their lives every year between 2004 and 2013. Most of these suicides are from the Vidarbha region.
