Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannaba Lok Sabha Member Nalin Kumar Kateel on Wednesday said he is planning to introduce cow-based economy at Balpa, the village being developed him in Sullia taluk, under the model village scheme.

India has largely been an agrarian economy and was dependent on the cow progeny for multiple requirements. The importance for agriculture and the cow progeny has decreased over the years for various reasons, he said.

Mr. Kateel was speaking at the launch of conventional buttermilk, the first in South India, brought out by the Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (DKMUL) here on the 5th Day of Cooperative Week celebrations.

Balpa would have organic farming with the help of cows. He proposed to give at least one cow to each household.

Besides milk and milk produce, the villagers would produce enough biogas for cooking as well as producing electricity for the village. In a nut-shell, he is striving to make the village self-reliant. He sought cooperation from all cooperative institutions in the district to realise the dream. Mr. Kateel said, “If milk, milk products and agricultural producesare available in the country, it is only because of the cooperative movement and not because of the government,” the MP said. At the same time, if farmers in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are content with the price they are getting for their produce — milk as well as agricultural — it is because of strong cooperative institutions in the region, he said.

The cooperative movement, started about 110 years ago in the region, has grown strong with DKMUL, Campco, SCDCC Bank, and other cooperative institutions in the region making the movement stronger. Farmers as well as cooperative institutions in the region are complimentary to each other with institutions going the extra mile to help the members, Mr. Kateel said. On the occasion, eminent cardiologist B.M. Hegde launched the buttermilk, while Mr. Kateel inaugurated the new homogeniser facility at the Mangaluru Dairy. In his introductory address, DKMUL Managing Director B.V. Satyanarayana said the Union is only one among the 14 counterparts in the State offering the highest price to dairy farmers —Rs. 24.37 a litre — even though it faces shortage of about 25,000 litre milk as against the requirement of 3.75 lakh litre milk every day.