Dairy Sector in India Grew 6.4% Yearly in the Last 4 Years: Minister Giriraj Singh

Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Mr. Giriraj Singh on Thursday (25^th July 2019) said India’s dairy sector grew at a rate of 6.4% annually in the last 4 years against the global growth rate of 1.7% and the objective is to improve milk productivity per animal further.

In spite of being ranked number 1 in milk production, the per animal productivity is 1,806 kg in a year while the world average is 2,310 kg. Technologies implemented under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission like embryo transfer technology, genomics selection and creation of facility for sex sorted semen production would help in improving the output, Singh said while inaugurating a workshop on quality milk production.

The minister said around 80 million rural Indian families are engaged in milk production with very high amount being landless, small and marginal farmers.

How to tackle milk adulteration

For detecting adulteration in milk, the department has already approved a plan to strengthen laboratories in 313 dairy plants in India. In addition, a central laboratory has been approved for the cooperative sector for as many as 18 States. In the next phase of the National Programme for Dairy Development, testing for contaminants or impurities will be considered for village level cooperative societies helping develop trust among growers as well as consumers, told Singh.

Apart from guarantying consumption of safe milk, strengthening laboratories in dairy plants will help in promoting export. India accounts for only 0.01 per cent of the global dairy export market, the Minister said.

The minister added that standards setting bodies such as Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) should be strict about milk adulteration & urged the milk unions not to purchase adulterated milk. Milk unions must remember the welfare of farmers & pay attention to feed & fodder and infrastructure for quality clean milk.