National Dairy Development Board Launches ‘NDDB Mrida Ltd’ for Manure Management

Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying launched NDDB MRIDA Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), here on Monday to advance manure management initiatives across the country.

Union Ministers of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Dr L Murugan; Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, DAHD, Govt. of India; Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB and NDDB Mrida; Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary (CDD), DAHD, Govt. of India; and Sandeep Bharti, newly - appointed Managing Director of NDDB MRIDA Limited.

With the approval of the Central Government, NDDB has established NDDB MRIDA Limited, an Unlisted Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 2013 on July 1, 2022, as with a paid-up capital of Rs.9.50 crore. On this occasion, Dr. Balyan also launched a brochure on NDDB MRIDA Limited and Dr. Murugan handed over NDDB's SUDHAN trademark to Chairman and MD, NDDB MRIDA Limited.

On the occasion, Rupala said NDDB Mrida Ltd will open avenues of additional income to dairy farmers from the sale of slurry/dung. The savings to the farmers by virtue of replacement of cooking fuel with biogas. Efforts are being made for better utilization of bovine dung but most are individual initiatives. However, this new company will provide structured impetus to manure management efforts. Also, promoting the usage of dung-based manure will gradually lead to the replacement of chemical fertilizers with organic manure thereby reducing dependency on India's dependency on imports, the Union Minister further said.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Balyan said this is a first-of-its-kind company focussing on efficient utilization of dung by creating a manure management value chain that will immensely contribute to enhancing the livelihoods of dairy farmers at the same time contribute towards the Swachh Bharat Mission and promotion of green energy.

Dr. Murugan said the manure management initiatives have potential to generate biogas equivalent to 50 percent of India's present LPG consumption & also produce bio-slurry equivalent to 44 percent of India's NPK requirement. Further, efficient manure management also promotes general well-being & cleanliness and contributes to increasing the productive economic life cycle of the milch animals beyond milking thereby helping tackle the problem of stray cattle & lowering GHG emissions.

Chaturvedi said NDDB has also taken up projects for the utilization of cattle dung to meet the energy needs of dairy plants. The Foundation stone for the first such project was laid by Prime Minister of India in Varanasi on December 23, 2021. NDDB has also registered a trademark named " SuDhan " to provide a common identity to dung-based organic fertilizers. Chairman, NDDB, and NDDB Mrida Shri Shah said NDDB Mrida Ltd will take up the setting up of manure value chain, biogas-based CNG generation, and biogas-based energy generation for dairy plants.

The new company will explore opportunities to efficiently use cattle dung as an ingredient for various applications in different industries and as a replacement to traditional wood, clay, paint, etc. Chairman, NDDB and NDDB Mrida Ltd said the company will undertake research and development on cost-effective technologies for efficient dung management and a major area of focus will be establishing revenue generation models at the village - level through sale of cattle dung-based products.

The company will provide marketing and sale support to agencies manufacturing gobar-gas slurry-based fertilizers and establish mechanisms to accrue carbon revenue from the projects to generate an additional revenue stream for dairy farmers.