Introduction
Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd (Sabar Dairy)
An Overview
The Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd was established in the year 1964 by collecting raw milk from 19 primary co-operative milk societies and supplying it unprocessed to Ahmedabad Municipal Dairy. Municipal Dairy being a consumer oriented dairy it could not accept more quantity of milk during flush season and this had forced the Union to rotationally stop the milk collection from societies during flush season. The milk union could not expand its activities for the first seven years due to inadequate financial resources. In the year 1971 under Operation Flood-I Program me of Indian Dairy Corporation (a Government of India undertaking) a dairy project was sanctioned for handling 1.50 lakh liters of milk per day. The total cost of the dairy plant was Rs.2.52 crore, which was received from the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation through the Government of Gujarat.
The foundation stone of Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd was laid by Dr. Verghese Kurien, Chairman,National Dairy Development Board on June 11, 1971. The reception and pasteurization of milk was started on May 12, 1973 and condensing and spray drying plant was commissioned in the year 1974. Under Operation Flood-II programme the dairy plant was expanded to handle 4.00 lakh liters of milk per day.
The 1st chilling center of the Union was established near Dhansura with the financial assistance received from Small Farmers Development Agency. The chilling center was commissioned in October, 1976. The milk processing capacity of this chilling center was 30,000 liters of milk per day.
The 2nd chilling centre of the Union was established at Khedbrahma; one of the four tribal talukas. The other three are Meghraj, Vijaynagar & Bhiloda. The chilling centre was inaugurated by her excellency the Governor of Gujarat State Smt Sharada Mukherjee in March 1979. In October, 1976. The initial milk processing capacity of this chilling center was 25,000 liters of milk per day.
The 3rd chilling centers of the Union was established at Shamlaji, another tribal dominated area The milk processing capacity of this chilling centers was 25,000 liters of milk per day. The milk collection from Bhiloda and Meghraj talukas was processed at this new chilling center. The milk processing capacity of these two chilling centers was further expanded with the financial support from the State Government.
Besides the above three milk chilling centers the Union presently operates three other milk chilling centers at places like Bayad, Prantij and Idar to cover all the milk collected from the entire district. Besides these milk chilling centers, the Union also got installed Bulk Milk Cooling Units (BMCUs) in large numbers to keep the sour percentage of milk to “zero” level.
