Bhubaneswar, July 23: Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation (Omfed) has signed a pact with the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, creator of Amul brand, to improve its product quality, packaging and marketing.

As part of the plan, Omfed will also supply 50,000 litres of milk per day to Amul for its Calcutta unit. Moreover, experts from Amul are going to help improve the ice cream being produced and marketed by Omfed. They will also work at the ice-cream manufacturing facility in Bhubaneswar.

The supply of milk to Amul's plant in Calcutta by Omfed was necessitated as its current procurement by the producer has reached 6 lakh litres per day against the average of 4.45 lakh litres per day last year.

Chief secretary G.C. Pati while chairing a meeting of fisheries and animal resources development officials and Amul on July 13 fixed a target of opening 5,500 milk outlets, increasing paneer production for household consumption and country cheese for sweets makers by the cooperative. R.S. Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, was also present at the meeting.

Moreover, if things go as per plan, September onwards people can get hygienically packed rasgullas and gulab jamuns from the nearest Omfed-run milk booths. At present, the kiosks sell rabdi, chhena poda and sweet curd.

"We are going to pack these items in attractive containers so that they attract the attention of the buyers who generally purchase these sweets from outlets of Bikalananda Kar or KC Das," said a senior Omfed official while talking to The Telegraph.

The milk cooperative of the state government at present supply milk, curd, ice-cream, paneer, curd milk, ghee and flavoured milk. The organisation also produces milk powder, but is yet to market it widely as it is produced in a limited quantity.

"While the new sweet varieties will strengthen our market position across the state and the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the collaboration with Amul will help us market them in a better way, adopt new technologies, improve product standards and indirectly help farmers to earn more," said secretary of fisheries and animal resources development department Bishnupada Sethi.

At present, Omfed sells its products through 4,500 outlets across the state, including 750 retail points in the city. There are 220 outlets in Cuttack and 98 in Puri.

"We are incurring a loss of 40 paise per litre on milk, but earning a profit of Rs 9.03 per litre on its products. Against 1,606 lakh litres of milk processed during last financial year, only 168 lakh litres were converted to various products. We now want to increase the production of such items and Amul can help us immensely in this direction," Sethi said.

Pati has asked the Omfed authorities to market 20 to 25 per cent of the procured milk as other milk products and have more outlets to sell liquid milk. According to a study in urban areas, one milk outlet should be available at a walking distance of 100 metres.