ICAR-NDRI to Bring Back National Dairy Mela on April 8th After a 3-Year Hiatus

The National Dairy Mela, which will last three days starting on April 8, will be hosted by the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) after a three-year hiatus. The most recent dairy mela was held from February 15–17, 2020. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture, and Farmer Welfare Minister will officially inaugurate the mela, according to Dr. Dheer Singh, Director of NDRI.

In an interview with the media, the Director stated, "The mela will be a mega event and is part of the century-year celebration of the NDRI, providing an opportunity to showcase the technological developments, a package of practices developed by the institute, and to create awareness among the dairy farmers regarding certain emerging issues.

Many competitions for milk supply and breed will have a sizable contingent of highly pedigreed dairy animals, he added. Previously, in 2020 Jasdeep Singh of Ambala's cow won the Jersey crossbreed cow milk competition by producing 26.97 kg of milk per day. The cow owned by Ramsingh of Taraori won the Sahiwal cow milk production competition by producing 21.31 kg of milk, followed by the cow owned by Naresh, who produced 15.81 kg of milk, and the cow owned by Rampal of Karnal, who produced 15.75 kg of milk.

All dairy stakeholders, including R&D organizations, for-profit businesses, and forward-thinking farmers, will exhibit their goods and innovations, according to Dr. Singh.

At this mela, programs for farmers to address issues will be organized, as well as special seminars led by professionals. The Director stated, "We anticipate more than 50,000 dairy farmers and other stakeholders from different regions of the country."

The NDRI has created several paper strips for testing pesticides, adulterants, etc. in milk in addition to a well-developed referral laboratory for detecting milk adulterations. In India, 80% of all dairy graduates have either studied or received training there.

Currently, milk production is up by 6%, but efforts are being made to boost productivity while also improving milk quality to meet international standards, he said, noting that because this year is the International Year of Millet, attention will also be paid to the creation of a variety of nutrient-rich millet products.