Union minister in Sikkim: 57 dairy cooperatives, churpi traceability

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh, better known as Lalan Singh, is on a three-day visit to Sikkim to launch dairy and fisheries projects in Mangan and Gangtok districts, according to the Press Information Bureau and the Sikkim Express.

He arrived in Gangtok on Sunday and was received by state Animal Husbandry and Fisheries minister Puran Kumar Gurung, the paper reported. The programme runs until November 3.

Dairy push in the hills

According to the PIB release, the minister is scheduled to:

• inaugurate a microbiology laboratory for the Sikkim Milk Union under the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD);
• launch the setting up of 57 new Dairy Cooperative Societies under White Revolution 2.0, and hand registration certificates to five newly registered societies;
• launch the formation of 15 new societies in North Sikkim (Mangan), bringing more farmers into the cooperative network;
• unveil a traceability initiative for churpi, the hard Himalayan cheese made in Gangtok and Jorethang;
• promote two Fodder Plus Farmer Producer Organisations for the milk union under the Centre's 10,000 FPO scheme;
• release new products such as organic honey, a Niger seed-blended powder, and biscuits and sweets made from millets and buckwheat.

The dairy events are planned at the Sikkim Milk Union's processing plant at Tadong in Gangtok on November 3.

Fish farmers in Mangan

The Sikkim Express said the minister will also open projects worth Rs 3.75 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), release a standard operating procedure for organic fish farming, and hand out Kisan Credit Cards to fish farmers and cheques under the state's Mukhya Mantri Matsya Utpadan Yojana. In Mangan he is to visit the live fish vending centre at Mangshila and see a Siri cattle exhibition. Sikkim and Meghalaya have been picked for organic fisheries clusters under PMMSY.

Central funding so far

The ministry says Sikkim produced about 89.35 thousand tonnes of milk in 2024-25, with per capita availability of around 352 grams a day. Under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission it has released about Rs 70.94 crore to the state since 2014, plus a Rs 27.64 crore project to conserve the native Siri cattle breed and Rs 1 crore this year to buy high-genetic-merit yak bulls. Nine NPDD projects worth Rs 59.60 crore have been sanctioned, of which Rs 53.59 crore has been released.

The visit is part of the Centre's arrangement under which Union ministers visit the northeastern states in turn to review central schemes on the ground.