Building a climate-resilient and future-ready dairy sector need of the hour

India’s dairy sector remains a cornerstone of rural livelihoods, nutrition security, and agricultural resilience, supporting millions of smallholder farmers while contributing significantly to global milk production. However, as climate variability intensifies and resource constraints deepen, the sector faces increasing challenges related to feed availability, animal health, productivity, and sustainability. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated, systems-level approach that strengthens productivity while embedding climate resilience across the dairy value chain.

“The real opportunity lies in integrating the dairy value chain end-to-end-where even by-products like dung are monetised—unlocking additional farmer income, improving resource efficiency, and building resilience through diversified revenue streams” said Varsha Joshi Additional Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India.

Joshi was speaking at the National Consultation on “Pathways to Climate-Resilient and Productive Indian Dairy Ecosystem” organised today by the Confederation of Indian Industry - Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (CII–FACE), in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The consultation brought together senior government representatives, industry leaders, financial institutions, cooperatives, and knowledge partners to deliberate on the future trajectory of India’s resilient dairy sector.

Welcoming the participants to the consultation, Jai Agarwal, Managing Director, C.P Milk & Food Products Pvt. Ltd, noted that “building a climate-resilient and future-ready dairy ecosystem requires alignment across policy, finance, institutions, and markets. The opportunity is to move from fragmented pilots to scalable, field-level solutions, ensuring last-mile delivery of services and advisory, which are critical to translating policy investments into measurable productivity and resilience gains.”

The inaugural session set the context by highlighting dairy’s dual role as an economic lifeline for smallholder households and a critical pillar of national food systems. Discussions emphasised the need to sustain growth while addressing emerging priorities around climate resilience, resource-use efficiency, and inclusive development. Key focus areas included improving feed and nutrition systems, enhancing animal health and welfare, strengthening smallholder productivity, and promoting greater participation of women and producer institutions.

Speaking on the occasion, NABARD Chairman Shaji K V emphasised that India’s dairy sector is at a decisive moment, where climate resilience is no longer optional, but essential. India’s dairy success was built on necessity, innovation, and strong cooperative institutions. The next phase must build resilience, enhance productivity while safeguarding farmer incomes. The shift from vulnerability to sustainability will define the sector’s future. Noting the importance of enabling finance, risk mitigation, and institutional support to accelerate adoption of climate-resilient practices among smallholder farmers.

“Translating pilots into large-scale impact will require stronger convergence between government, industry, and farmer institutions. Aligning policy, investment, and implementation is needed to deliver outcomes at scale with focus on the need for strengthened synergies between different stakeholders,” said J Samba Murthy, Co-Chairman, CII Animal Agriculture Committee and Chief Operating Officer, Heritage Foods Ltd.

“Every morning, millions of smallholder farmers sustain India’s dairy sector, not with balance sheets, but with resilience. As climate stress rises, the challenge is not a lack of solutions, but a lack of connection and scale. The farmer is not the last mile, the farmer is the centre. If we get this right, we don’t just protect dairy, we secure livelihoods, nutrition, and a sustainable future,” Hisham Mundol, Chief Advisor - India, Environmental Defense Fund said. Mundol also emphasised the importance of building farmer centric solutions.

The consultation also featured two focused sessions examining key levers for sectoral transformation.

The first session, titled “Creating the Enabling Environment: Policy, Finance, and Institutions,” explored how supportive policies, innovative financing mechanisms, and institutional coordination can accelerate the adoption of climate-resilient and productivity-enhancing practices.

“Building a climate-resilient dairy sector requires a truly collaborative ecosystem, where research drives innovation, extension ensures last-mile adoption, and public, private, and cooperative sectors work in tandem. Alongside enabling policies, we must empower not just large players but also grassroots entrepreneurs, the ‘fireflies’, who together can illuminate sustainable growth across India”, said Dr V Sridhar, Senior General Manager, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). He highlighted the importance of aligning public and private investments, de-risking farmer adoption, and strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration.

The second session, titled “From Innovation to Impact: Scaling Solutions on the Ground,” focused on translating successful pilots into scalable, farmer-centric solutions. Discussions highlighted the role of cooperatives, private sector players, and digital technologies in strengthening last-mile delivery, improving animal health and nutrition, and enabling data-driven decision-making.

“Unlocking the genetic potential of dairy animals requires a balanced approach across nutrition, management, and sanitation—with nutrition emerging as the most critical lever influencing productivity and animal health outcomes, emphasising that scaling requires not only technological innovation but also consortium of practices to be followed,” said Dr Prashant Shinde, Commercial Director, Cargill Animal Nutrition & Health.

The consultation forms part of ongoing efforts under the Resilient Dairy Alliance (RDA) to foster collaboration across the dairy value chain and translate insights into actionable pathways for scale. By bringing together diverse stakeholders and aligning on shared priorities, the platform aims to support a transition toward a more productive, climate-resilient, and inclusive dairy ecosystem in India.

“The future of India’s dairy sector lies in advancing productivity, resilience, and inclusivity together—not as competing goals, but as interconnected priorities enabled through strong partnerships across government, industry, and farmer institutions,” Vrashabh Kapate, Senior Manager, Global Dairy Sector, Environmental Defense Fund added.