PDDP Central Society is committed to achieve continual improvement in the procurement, processing and marketing of quality milk and milk products in harmony with our customers’ needs and regulatory requirement through the involvement of dedicated and trained employees .
Best Quality Milk For Better Health And Living
PEOPLES’ DAIRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (PDDP) is a Charitable Society under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Registrations Act of 1955. The Society was registered in l983. It is an lSO 22000:2005 Certified Dairy. It began with one village with 60 liters of milk per day, nothing but a trickle compared to them good it has become today. Today PDDP collects, processes and distributes nearly 1 lakh litres of milk and milk products per day on behalf of more than 200 societies owned by around 30 thousand member farmers.
Fr. Joseph Muttumana, the Founder Chairman of PDDP, has given the people of Kerala a rich legacy, a legacy of inspiration, encouraging, enabling and above all, a participatory leadership. Fr. Joseph was a simple, humble, loving, generous, understanding and above all one who gave great respect to his fellow beings. He is very much remembered by the farmers of Kerala especially for his respect to humanity. Family is said to be the nursery where an individual’s personality is formed to a great extent. It is from the family members that the children imbibe the basic human values and ethical and moral principles. Fr. Joseph was born on January 3 1923, at Vaikom as the third child of Muttumana Mathew and Eliswa. He did his primary studies in the home town school and then came over to the boarding school at Aluva. He joined the minor seminary on June 10, 1941 and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Ernakulam, on March 15, 1950 by Archbishop Late Mar Augustine Kandathil. After the ordination he served in different parishes of the Archdiocese. While he was in Social welfare Institute, Kalamassery, he received a call within a call to serve the poor especially the village folk. He started his work basing on the motto of the Father of the Nation, “Growth of the Nation depends on the growth of the village.” Started the social service with poultry, he then changed to the cow rearing scheme. While he was the secretary in the Ernakulum Welfare Services, he got the permission from the higher authorities to start cow rearing project. The parish priest of St. Thomas church, Malayattoor was very generous to grant a loan of Rs. 55,000 to him to buy hybrid cows to be distributed to the farmers of the locality. Thus in 1973, PEOPLES’ DAIRY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, the first dairy development project in Kerala was started. The primary members were 10 farmers and the daily collection was 60 ltrs. per day. By 1983 the collection increased to 5000 litres of milk from different 30 societies. The collected milk was given to MILMA, a co-operative society governed by the Kerala Government.
PDDP became a registered society in 1983. As above mentioned, though the collected milk was given to MILMA, the shocking decision of MILMA for the rejection of PDDP collected milk by giving only two days’ notice became an opening for a new endeavor. PDDP searched for its own marketing strategy which lead to a new well accepted, PDDP BRAND MILK in the market. The hardworking of Fr. Muttumana and the efforts of farmers and staff became a strong foundation in the relationship between PDDP and customers. A priest with a difference: An epitome of Christian Love Jesus was a man for others. This is repeatedly seen in the life of Fr. Joseph. He was a man for others. He would always go an extra mile to be faithful to his commitment. Nothing could deter him from being true and faithful to him and to others. Other orientedness was his special quality. His is a life of presence to all and nobody disliked him. Even in differences his was not a conflicting presence but a complementing one. In relation with the farmers, he did not count his own advantage but the person in front of him. Sensitivity and concern of Fr. Muttumana towards the less privileged section of the society created in him a loving heart and concern to be with the people. Fr. Muttumana was the Chairman of PDDP for 26 years (1973 to 1999). During this period, PDDP flourished to different places of Ernakulum and Trichur Districts, from 10 members to 30,000 farmers and processing 50,000 ltrs. of milk per day. Fr. Joseph Muttumana was recognized by All India Catholic Federation as the BEST PRIEST considering his social work done among cow farmers. October 11, 2010 was a heartbreaking day for the PDDP family. On that day Fr. Joseph Muttumana was called to eternity.
A Board of Directors comprising of 13 members governs the society. The Patron of the society, the Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly nominates the Chairman and the Vice Chairman. The Chairman nominates two other members. The other 9 members are elected from among the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the primary societies. Once in a month, the Board meet together, to evaluate the functioning of the society. Present chairman of PDDP is Fr. Thomas Mangattu
