The central government of India today said that India would readily participate in globally expanding efforts to bring down the adverse environmental impact of farming, dairy or global emissions, bearing in mind that the country accounts for about 1/4th of global milk production with the largest cattle population.
The annually held IDF World Dairy summit was attended by CEOs and employees of dairy processing companies, dairy farmers, suppliers to the dairy industry, academicians, and government representatives opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by Parshottam Rupala, the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, and Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The summit was held 48 years after India hosted the International Dairy Congress in 1974. IDF President Mr. Piercristiano Brazalle and Director General Ms. Caroline Emond were present while Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, Government of India, presided over the meeting.
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, spoke at "Sustainable Dairy for Low Environmental Impact" at the IDF World Dairy Summit 2022.
He said that as a nation, we would like more and more engagement among nations, and being the world's largest producer of dairy, with nearly 1/4th of the world's production coming from India, and perpetually, given the initiatives that are being taken by the government, the cooperative sector, the farmers, the global share of production over the years will see a significant rise in the coming years.
This will prove to be advantageous for small and marginal farmers who own up to 300 moving animals, which gives them additional income and food. He suggested the International Dairy Federation (IDF) station a team in India to study the climate of different parts of the country in order to find practical solutions to climate change that are relevant and applicable for small farmers.
"When we talk of quality standards and sustainability, India wants to engage with the world, we very much want to be a part of this global effort to bring down the impact of farming, dairy or global emissions", said the finance minister.
Goyal said, “In the next 25 years, as we move from 75 years to 100 years, our collective commitment as a nation is to become a developed country, a country that takes prosperity to 1.3 billion people across the length and breadth of the country. Of the 1.3 billion people we have nearly 70 million families, particularly amongst the very small and marginal farmers, some having 2 or 3 acres of farmland and 2 or 3 cattle producing milk.”
The solutions that we are all looking for should take into account these factors, according to Piyush Goyal, who also added that the developed world has completely failed in its efforts to combat climate change because there is a lack of ground-level action. This is because Indian farmers revere their animals. He observed, "We are such a large country, but we barely contribute 3% of CHGs."
As a last-minute reminder to other countries that attention must be paid to small and marginal farmers, Goyal also recognized the contributions of farmers and congratulated two marginal farmers as an impromptu gesture.
