Govt. to Help Dairy Sector & Dairy Farmers by Creating Value Beyond Milk, Artificial Insemination & Vaccination of Cattle

The majority of milk producers are small and marginal farmers, and the government on Tuesday declared that it is looking beyond milk for value development through cow manure and cattle waste to provide extra financial benefits to milk producers.

The Hon'ble Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh said during one of the sessions at the IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 that "The dairy cattle waste is being utilized for biogas, biofertilizer, Vedic plaster, and paint, etc. to ensure that even waste gives the return to the farmers to buffer their income." He was giving a presentation during the panel discussion titled "Evolution of Dairying: A Livelihood Perspective."

The Indian government is supporting artificial insemination as a way to increase cow and buffalo productivity. NDDB subsidiary NDDB Dairy services is a dominant player in the segment with 5.1 Crore semen straws annually in a market of 12 crores under superior animal genetics.

Dr. Sanjeev Balyan, the Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy spoke at the other session of "Trends in Animal Health" on Day 2 of the ongoing IDF World Dairy Summit 2022, informing attendees that the African Swine Flu is affecting the swine population in addition to causing issues in the poultry sector. Dr. Balyan said the challenge before the dairy sector is various diseases emanating from different countries and added that India was fully committed to vaccinating all its cattle, which because of the total number is an onerous task. Yesterday, Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this vaccination program was intended to free the cattle population from foot & mouth disease.

Dr. Balyan added that “We have to think of how we can stop animal diseases from one country to another. The central government, state government, and milk cooperatives will have to come together to overcome the situation and strengthen the infrastructure.”

"All cooperatives should emulate the Amul model of animal services," he asked the cooperatives, including Mother Dairy.

Upamnyu Basu, Joint Secretary (Livestock Health), Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, also participated in the session on trends in animal health. He spoke about the government's National Animal Disease Control Program (NADCP). As he demonstrated the NADCP program architecture, and end-to-end process map of FMD vaccination under the program, together with the roadmap and way ahead, he stated that NADCP wants to control FMD and Brucellosis in the upcoming years.

Other prominent speakers in the session included Dr. Hirufumi Kugita, Head of WOAH Regional Representation for Asia-Pacific, WOAH, Dr. Scott McDougall, Professor, Massey University, New Zealand, and Dr. Anna Stygar, Research Scientist, Natural Resources Institute, Finland. The session was chaired by Dr. David Kelton, Professor, University of Guelph, Canada.

Speaking at a parallel session on ‘Dairy Farm Management: Opportunities & Approach’, Dr. L Murugan, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Information & Broadcasting applauded the role of cooperatives in the dairying sector and said, “NDDB is supporting India strongly to become Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

He said that the dairy sector has tremendous potential making India the global leader with sustainably higher growth of 6% and the government is fully committed to further development and benefit of billions of farmers.

Speaking at a session Romulo Alvardo from Spain said that the three challenges before the dairy sector are market access, understanding the economics of the dairy sector and competence are challenges which could also be converted into opportunities.

The session was chaired by Helen Dornom, a delegate from Australia and General Manager – Sustainability, Dairy Australia. Others who participated included Romulo Alvardo, Project Manager, Dairy Development, Tetra Pak, Spain, Snorri Sigurdsson, Senior Project Manager, Aria Foods, Nigeria and Amit Vyas, Managing Director, Amul Dairy in Anand, Gujarat.

The Summit, held 48 years after India hosted the International Dairy Congress in 1974, was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was flanked by Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.