Meghalaya will set up a cattle feed mill and a ranch to augment its milk production.

Addressing a Stakeholder Consultation on Capacity Building Programmes under Milk Mission here on Friday, deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said Meghalaya has been commissioned by the Niti Aayog and the Union ministry of veterinary to establish a cattle feed mill in the state with an initial capacity of 150 tonnes per day.

The feed mill, which will be the first in the Northeast, will also be the sole supplier to all the states of the region.

Tynsong said the government will set up the first cattle ranch near Mawmerang village in South West Khasi Hills.

Meghalaya Farmers’ Commission chairman K.N. Kumar said the Milk Mission, which was launched last year with a loan from the National Cooperative Development Corporation amounting to Rs 2.20 crore, has led to the creation of 68 new cooperative societies.

Stressing that the dairy sector is available for cooperation, he said cooperative societies in the state have not succeeded owing to the corruption that exists in the cooperative society system and said there is a need to break the cycle of corruption.

He also said in the last 48 years of the formation of the state, only 38 dairy cooperatives were created.

However, with the launch of the Milk Mission, 68 new cooperative societies have been established in the past year alone.

Kumar stressed on the need to upgrade skill formation of the dairy farmers so that they can bring about scientific management of dairying.