Milk societies under Milma’s Malabar Union bag Gopal Ratna Awards
Societies from Wayanad, Palakkad win national honours
Kalpetta / November 18, 2025
Kalpetta, Nov.18: Two milk cooperative societies affiliated under Milma’s Malabar Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (MRCMPU) have bagged top honours of the National Gopal Ratna Awards (NGRA) 2025 in the Best Dairy Cooperative Society category.
MRCMPU’s Meenangadi Dairy Cooperative Society in Wayanad won the first prize in the Best Dairy Cooperative Society category while Kunnamkattupathy Dairy Cooperative Society in Palakkad was adjudged the second best. The winners will get Rs 5 lakh and 3 lakh respectively. Over all, a total of 2,081 applications were received in various categories of NGRA 2025 Awards.
Previous years, the dairy cooperatives under MRCMPU have won this coveted award. Winners in previous years were Dairy Cooperative Societies of Deepthigiri (second prize in 2021), Mananthavadi (first in 2022) and Pulpally (first in 2023) in Wayanad.
NGRA awards are the country’s highest honours in the livestock and dairy sector, instituted by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Panchayati Raj Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh will give away the awards on the sidelines of the National Milk Day celebrations on November 26, coinciding with the birth anniversary of the late Dr Verghese Kurien, the father of India’s White Revolution.
Ministers of State MoFAHD Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel and Shri George Kurian will also be present on the occasion.
Milma Chairman Shri KS Mani said “This is a proud achievement for the dairy farmers in entire Kerala, and those in the Malabar region in particular.”
“The dairy farmers and the societies to which they are affiliated are the true source of Milma’s strength. The growth of the state’s dairy sector is sustained by them. This honour will give an added thrust to the cooperative dairy sector, represented by Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), known by brand Milma, besides inspiring more people, especially youngsters, to take up dairying as a promising enterprise,” Shri Mani, who is also the Chairman of MRCMPU, said.
Shri Mani also congratulated the leadership of the award-winning societies.
Shri Jayan P P is the President and Shri Mathew K B is the Secretary of Meenangadi Dairy Cooperative Society, which procures 17,500 litres of milk per day. Kunnamkattupathy Dairy Cooperative Society’s President is Shri Anand and Secretary is Shri Jayaprakash. It procures 28,500 litres of milk per day.
Ends
