‘Uthukuli’ butter makers in Tiruppur have no clue about the upcoming centre for the product at Chengapalli

Dairy farmers in Tiruppur district anticipate the upcoming Uthukuli Butter Production Centre at Chengapalli to accord a thrust on originality of the product, so as to do justice to the Geographical Indication (GI) tag it was granted in 2024.

Traditional butter producers themselves concede that the ‘Uthukuli’ butter that once used to essentially mean the product made out of buffalo milk has become scarce.

Over the decades, the farmers found tending to buffaloes to be a tough proposition and began replacing them with hybrid variety cows. The product made from the cream of cow milk is now being sold in bulk in the market as ‘Uthukuli’ butter.

According to sources in the district administration, Aavin has been entrusted with the responsibility of establishing the butter production centre for which the State Government had sanctioned ₹6.5 crore. The financial allocation followed an announcement by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during his visit to Udumalpet last August.

“We are curious to know how the government intends to go ahead with the project in the absence of a proper eco-system that necessitates requirement of buffalo milk in huge quantities,” a long-time manufacturer of Uthukuli butter and ghee said.

Usage of buffalo milk as mainstay of the Uthukuli butter is a thing of the past, he said, adding: “The original ‘Uthukuli’ butter is extracted from fat-rich milk of buffaloes fed with nutritious forage consisting of maize stalks, bran, oil cake, sorghum straw, and drought-resilient grasses.

“After the textile boom in Tiruppur, land that was once used for grazing of buffaloes became valuable, and it made better economic sense for the farmers to dispose off their land for expansion of textile industries. The added advantage for them was the employment opportunity in the industries,” the butter manufacturer pointed out.

According to the manufacturers, the government project for ‘Uthukuli’ product would make real sense if it is carried out on the lines of the Animal Husbandry Department’s Bargur Cattle Research Station in neighbouring Erode district. It entails a much larger investment for captive breeding of buffaloes and producing the nutritious fodder as well in a large farm, another dairy farmer explained.

The General Manager of Aavin, Tiruppur, could not be reached over phone.