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

Tiruppur's Uthukuli butter makers express concerns over a new production center amid declining buffalo milk availability and changing farming practices.

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.