World Dairy Summit: India registered 44% increase in milk production during last 8 years

New Delhi: “India produced 146 million tonnes of milk in 2014. It has now increased to 210 million tonnes, registering an increase of about 44 percent,” remarked the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as he inaugurated the World Dairy Summit 2022 organized by International Dairy Federation at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida on September 12, 2022.

The Prime Minister pointed out how the government has worked relentlessly to enhance the potential of India’s dairy sector since 2014 and how it has led to an increase in milk production thereby leading to an increase in the income of farmers.

PM also mentioned that as compared to the 2 percent production growth at the global level, India is clocking the milk production growth rate at more than 6 percent.

The four-day-long IDF WDS 2022, held from 12th to 15th September, is a congregation of global and Indian dairy stakeholders including industry leaders, experts, farmers and policy planners centring around the theme of ‘Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood’. Around 1500 participants from 50 countries are expected to participate in IDF WDS 2022. The last such Summit was held in India about half a century ago in 1974.

Explaining the unique characteristic of the Indian dairy system, the Prime Minister reiterated that there is such a huge network of Dairy Cooperative in India, and one cannot find such an example in the whole world elsewhere. PM Modi said that these dairy cooperatives collect milk twice a day from about two crore farmers in more than two lakh villages in the country and deliver it to the customers.

The Prime Minister drew everyone’s attention to the fact that there is no middleman in the entire process, and more than 70 per cent of the money that is received from the customers goes directly into the pockets of the farmers.

“No other country has this ratio in the whole world”, the Prime Minister added. He also underlined the efficiency of the digital system of payment in the dairy sector and said that it has many lessons for other countries.

Another unique feature, according to the Prime Minister, is the indigenous breeds that can withstand many adverse circumstances. He gave the example of the sturdy buffalo breed of Banni Buffalo of the Kutch region of Gujarat.  He also talked about other buffalo breeds such as Murrah, Mehsana, Jafrabadi, Nili Ravi, and Pandharpuri; among the cow breeds, he mentioned Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Kankrej, Tharparker and Haryana.

As another unique characteristic, the Prime Minister highlighted the power of women in the dairy sector, the Prime Minister pointed out that women have a 70% representation in the workforce in India’s dairy sector. “Women are the real leaders of India’s dairy sector”, he added, “Not only this, more than a third of the members of dairy cooperatives in India are women.” He said at more than eight and a half lakh crore rupees, the dairy sector is more than the combined value of wheat and rice. This is all driven by the women power of India.

Stressing the use of modern technology, the Prime Minister said that India is building the largest database of dairy animals and every animal associated with the dairy sector is being tagged. “We are doing biometric identification of animals. We have named it – Pashu Adhar”, he said.

PM Modi also stressed the growing entrepreneurial structures like FPAs and women self-help groups, and startups. He said that the sector has seen more than 1000 startups in recent times. He also talked about the strides in Gobardhan Yojna and said that aim is to reach a situation where dairy plants produce their own electricity from Gobar. The resulting manure will help the farmers also.

Drawing an analogy to farming, the Prime Minister said that animal husbandry and farming require diversity, and monoculture might not be the only solution. The Prime Minister stressed that today, India is paying equal attention to both indigenous breeds and hybrid breeds. He further elaborated that it will also reduce the risk of damage caused by climate change.