Bhubaneswar, May 25 (IANS): Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), on Friday said it will set up a milk processing plant and a central distribution facility in Odisha.

While it will invest Rs 150 crore for the five lakh litre per day milk plant, Rs 25 crore will be spent for the central distribution facility, said NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath.

The NDDB is looking for 15 acres of land on lease in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar to set up the two projects, he added.

"The NDDB has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the land allotment for Safal to set up a central distribution facility and for collecting and marketing the farm produce in the most scientific and hygienic method to get the best price for farmers," said Rath.

Safal, the horticulture brand of Mother Dairy under the aegis of the NDDB, will double its farmer outreach to 2,000 farmers for procuring fruits and vegetables in seven districts to ensure a "fair value" for their produce and give them a taste of organised marketing across the country.

He also said that they have planned to open 10 more Safal stores in Bhubaneswar and six in Sambalpur. It already has 16 stores in the two cities.

Saugata Mitra, Director, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd, said: "Our aim is to strengthen our farmer connect to enhance fruit and vegetable procurement from Odisha. Our interventions at the farm level have already started showing results and we now plan to enhance our farmer strength in the larger interest of the farming community.

"We are aggressively pursuing to add 1000 more farmers to our network by the end of this fiscal, which will help us to strengthen on the procurement from the state."

"Safal also plans to double the procurement of mangoes from the state of Odisha this season to 150 tonnes. Last year it was 75 tonnes," Mitra added.