Dairy industry would play crucial role in achieving the target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doubling farmer’s income said Dilip Rath, chairman of National Dairy Development Board on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion of Kisan Kalyan Diwas at Anand town in Gujarat Rath said that because of the the collective efforts of millions of landless, small & marginal dairy farmers and the milk producer institutions which represents them, India could not only become self-sufficient in milk production but also the world’s leading milk producer.
India is contributing about 20.2% to the world milk production and we are growing at an annual rate of about 5.7% consistently over the last five years, he said adding, “Dairying is an important economic activity which contributes to about 67% of the value of output of livestock sector. Income from dairying contributes to about 25% of the income of small and marginal farmers. Dairy Development is therefore a very important developmental intervention in rural India for achieving agricultural growth with equity.”
With limited resources, environmental constraints and a huge animal population with low productivity, the only way we can continue to maintain our self-sufficiency in milk and double farmers’ income is by introducing efficiencies at all levels in the dairy value chain.
The event mainly focused on scientific methods of dairying with four broad themes - manure management by adopting flexi biogas plant, enhancing milk production through different types of breeds & breeding practices, increasing income of farmers through appropriate animal nutrition practices at optimum costs and reducing cost of animal health care by adopting preventive & curative health care management.