If milk, veggies and fruits are the mainstay of a healthy diet, then Jharkhand is set to have ample supply of all three soon.
February 11 is a red letter day when the chief minister will lay the foundation of a 20,000-tonne plant, set to be the home of Safal products, ranging from fresh vegetables to all kinds of fruits, marketed under the over-reaching arm of Mother Dairy. Das will, on the same day, also inaugurate a 1.2 lakh litre automated dairy set up for around Rs 19 crore under the aegis of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
"Yes, February 11 will be a great moment for Jharkhand. Besides the dairy, we will also kick-start work to set up the food and vegetable processing plant. We have been trying for this project for a long time. Finally, with the chief minister's nod, it is off the ground," B.S. Khanna, MD of Jharkhand State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, told The Telegraph .
The action is shifting to Kanke, where the Safal fruits and vegetable plant would come up, and Hotwar, where the milk plant is coming up. Both are on the outskirts of Ranchi, about 25km and 6km from the district headquarters respectively.
The state cooperative federation, popularly referred to as Jharkhand Milk Fed, is managed by NDDB as a part of Jharkhand's tie up with the autonomous entity to boost the milk sector. Besides milk promotion, NDDB is also marketing other agrarian products and facilitating linkages. Brand Safal is owned by Mother Dairy, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of NDDB.
Mother Dairy is investing around Rs 70 crore for setting up the plant across an area of 27 acre. To begin with, Khanna said, peas and tomatoes would be marketed. Later, vegetables like cabbage and bean would be added along with fruits like mangoes and guava.
"Frozen peas, tomato puree and various pastes are some of the items which will be made available first," he said, but added that it was yet to be decided whether these would be sold under the Safal brand or a new local brand.
It would take around two years for the plant to start functioning. "Two years is the buffer time. We expect it to be ready in one-and- a- half years," Khanna said.
At Hotwar, the Rs 19 crore dairy, spread over 47 acres, is ready. Once operational, it will be the biggest milk processing unit with production capacity of 1.20 lakh litre. The three other state dairies at Ranchi's Ormanjhi, Koderma and Deoghar have a combined capacity of 40,000 litres.
The Hotwar dairy boasts a programmed logic controller (PLC), which functions as a one-stop control hub. It is also equipped with modern conveyor belts and a pasteurizer unit that can kill bacteria in 10,000 litres of milk at a time. Among the units that are ready is one where paneer, curd, lassi and ghee will be produced. Also ready are three cold storages with a combined capacity to hold 1.10 lakh litre of milk and allied products.
NDDB appointed plant manager Manoj Kumar said another unique feature of the dairy was its linkage with an effluent treatment plant (ETP). "The ETP will recycle waste water from the dairy and make it suitable for irrigation. Thus, each and every drop of milk will be used," he said.
After the new Hotwar dairy is in operation, Jharkhand's dependence on Bihar's Sudha brand of milk and milk products would come down drastically.
"Currently, Jharkhand requires 3 lakh litres of milk daily. The three existing dairies at Ranchi, Koderma and Deoghar produce 40,000 litres in all. Another 10,000 litres are procured from local dairy farmers, while the rest is imported from Sudha Dairy," said an agriculture department official.
