Milk Vita

Milk Vita a trade name for dairy products manufactured by the Bangladesh Milk Producers Co-operative Union Limited (BMPCUL). Established under the co-operative fold, the organisation, popularly known as Milk Vita, makes necessary efforts to fulfill the demand for milk and milk products of city dwellers by collecting milk from remote places of the country. Presently, Bangladesh Milk Producers Co-operative Union Limited operates in six milk shed areas of the country viz Tangail, Manikganj, Tekerhat, Baghabarighat, Rangpur, and Sreenagar. It collects milk through networks established by its primary co-operative societies. BMPCUL is the central union of a total of 345 Primary Milk Producer's Co-operative Societies and has a membership of about 40,000 milk-producing farmer-members. To become a member of a rural primary society, farmers have to own a milking cow and have to buy a share of Tk 10.00 and pay Tk 1.00 as admission fee. To maintain membership, a farmer has to supply at least 150 litres of milk in a year.

Members supply milk to societies twice a day on cash payment with a preferential system of weekly basis matched on the market day of each area. The rate of the farmer's milk is decided on the basis of fat and solid non-fat (SNF) percentage. Milk collected from cooperative societies is transported to the nearest plant for preliminary processing and afterwards milk of Tangail, Manikganj, Tekerhat and Sreenagar areas is brought to Dhaka for the production of liquid milk, cream, ice-cream, flavoured milk, and sweet yogurt. Milk collected from Rangpur and Baghabarighat areas is processed at Baghabarighat Dairy Plant for Powder Milk, Butter and Ghee (butter oil) production. All products of the organisation are marketed under the trade name of 'Milk Vita'. [Quazi M Emdadul Huque]

See also dairy product; milk.