Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh on Wednesday pitched for creating a policy framework to further propagate the use of solar energy in the dairy cooperative network for benefit of farmers.
The entire dairy chain from village-level milk pooling to product delivery is energy intensive. Extensive use of solar energy in dairy value chain can significantly reduce operational cost and promote use of clean energy, he said.
Speaking at a workshop organised by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) here, Singh “stressed on the need of creating an enabling policy framework to further propagate usage of solar energy, utilising the dairy cooperative network for the benefit of farmers”
Presently, the Centre is promoting solar pumps in the agriculture sector to ensure use of clean energy and at the same time reduce farm subsidy burden, the Minister of State for Renewable Energy said in a statement.
He said GRID-connected solar pumps is an alternative which while ensuring water for free for farmers will help them earn additional income by selling surplus energy.
The dairy network has around 1.65 lakh village-level dairy cooperatives, 218 district/ regional/taluk unions and 24 state dairy federations. About 15 million milk producers are affiliated with this network.
As at March-end 2018, the network maintains 72 million litres per day (MLPD) of processing capacity, 18 MLPD of chilling capacity and 38 MLPD of village-level milk cooling capacity.