Himachal Pradesh inks three MoUs with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to expand dairy infrastructure

Key facts

• The Himachal Pradesh government signed three MoUs with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to strengthen the state’s dairy sector and improve milk processing infrastructure.
• Two milk processing plants of 20,000 litres per day capacity each will be set up at Nahan in Sirmaur district and Nalagarh in Solan district.
• Two milk chilling centres of 20,000 litres per day capacity each will be established at Jalari in Hamirpur district and Jhalera in Una district.
• An automated milk processing plant is being developed at Dhagwar in Kangra district at a cost of ₹250 crore; it will initially process 1.5 lakh litres of milk per day with potential to expand to 3 lakh litres.
• The Dhagwar plant is expected to become operational by October.
• Himachal Pradesh became the first state to offer the highest support price for milk procurement: cow milk raised from ₹32 to ₹51 per litre and buffalo milk from ₹47 to ₹61 per litre.
• A third MoU covers implementation of enterprise resource planning software in the state dairy federation to ensure transparency and efficient management.