Dairy business in Andhra Pradesh hits jackpot

HYDERABAD: The dairy industry in Andhra Pradesh has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years to be currently worth Rs 5,000 crore. With around 200 small and large dairy farms coming up in the city in the past four years, the agro-based dairy business seems more lucrative than ever.
The rise in the demand for milk and milk products has catapulted the state to the third position in the country in terms of milk production with 1.12 crore tonnes produced in 2010-11.With dairy farms and processing plants of different sizes scattered across city suburbs such as Shadnagar, Patencheru, Madhapur and along the Nagarjuna Sagar and Siddipet Roads, industry experts peg the mushrooming of these farms and of those across the state to the burgeoning population and the retail revolution in the city.
Significantly, in a bid to protect their lands, many farm owners set up dairy farms on the city outskirts. Dairy farming consultant Dr Padmakar Rao says, “The availability of good quality fodder and access to water helped these farmers on the outskirts of the city to get a foothold in the business.”
Experts pointed out that though the government had liberalised its policies on private entities making a foray into the dairy business in late 1991, it is only now that the private players have made substantial progress.
K Durga Prasad, chief operating officer, Heritage Foods India Ltd, says, “Earlier the market was monopolized by APDDCF and Visakha Dairy. Now, there are many private players such as Heritage, Tirumala and Creamline apart from others such as Masqati and Bilal.
Waking up to the big money in milk, Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation (APDDFC) will start mapping every drop of milk procured and sold. The cooperative had a turnover of Rs 450 crore in the last fiscal and milk sales have registered a growth of 9.82% with 1,395 lakh litres sold in 2011-12, according to vice-chairman and managing director, Mohd Ali Rafath.
Experts estimate that the consumption of milk will increase manifold over the next decade. Bhaskar Reddy, managing director, Creamline Dairy Corporation says, “According to national statistics, milk consumption will increase from 112 million tonnes this year to a staggering 200 million tonnes by 2020.”