Palanpur: The 57th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Banas Dairy, Asia’s largest dairy cooperative, was held today at the Banas Oil Mill in Badrpura village, Palanpur. A large number of dairy farmers from across Banaskantha attended the event. During the AGM, Dairy Chairman Shankar Chaudhary announced a payment hike of ₹2,131.68 crore for milk producers.

Farmers at the meeting unanimously approved all resolutions passed by the cooperative. Managing Director Sangram Chaudhary presented a detailed overview of Banas Dairy’s progress over the past decade. Following this, Chairman Shankar Chaudhary announced the ₹2,131.68 crore payment hike, marking an 18.32% increase over previous rates. The meeting also honored the district’s top female milk producers for their outstanding contributions.

In addition to this ₹2,131.68 crore, the dairy cooperatives will provide an additional ₹778.12 crore to milk producers. With this, a historic total of ₹2,909.8 crore has been allocated to the district’s farmers, marking one of the largest settlements in the cooperative’s history, said Chaudhary.

For the year 2023-24, farmers received ₹989.28 per kg of milk fat. This year, the dairy has increased the rate to ₹1,007 per kg, reflecting its commitment to rewarding farmers’ efforts.

Chairman Shankar Chaudhary stated, “It gives us immense satisfaction that the board could provide a higher price than expected. This is the result of farmers’ day-and-night efforts, our staff’s hard work, and government policies ensuring protection for our dairy farmers, including measures to restrict imported milk from the U.S.” DeshGujarat