Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 25 (IANS): A milk cooperative in Kerala has recorded significant growth, an official said.

The Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (KCMMF) and its three regional milk unions, known as Milma, have recorded a remarkable growth for the year 2013-14.

It has 8.5 lakh milk producers in 3,100 village-level dairy cooperatives spread all over state.

"...As a federation, our prime focus is the welfare of these dairy farmers who are contributing tremendously for our growth and therefore we passed on nearly 83 percent of our sales turnover, Rs.1,800 crore in 2013-14, to the farmers," said Milma chairman P.T. Gopala Kurup told reporters here Tuesday.

"We provide the highest procurement price to the farmers in the country while the selling price is at par or even below to that of other states," Kurup added.

He said this was possible only because of the low operating margin with which they work.

Regional milk unions affiliated to the federation during the year collected on an average 9.5 lakh litres of milk daily, an increase of 7.01 percent over the previous year.

"The average sale during the year 2013-14 was 11.88 lakh litres per day and the deficit was made good by sourcing milk from other states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh," said Kurup.

The revenue grew annually at 29.28 percent, recording a turnover of Rs.2,200 crore.