The Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India is aiming at exponential growth in the milk production in the country. Agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Radha Mohan Singh said that his ministry was aiming at 250 million tonne of milk production in the country by 2022.
He added that the government had taken several initiatives in this regard, and as a result, the country has witnessed 28 per cent growth in last four years in dairy production.
“The country produced 135 million tonne of milk in 2014-15, while it was at a record level of 176 million tonne in 2017-18. There was a 6.5 per cent annual growth in the dairy sector since 2014, and we hope that the target of 250 million tonne of milk production is achievable,†Singh said in his address on the occasion of the National Milk Day in New Delhi.
He added that currently, the average milk price per litre was about Rs 29, and the availability of milk per person has also gone up by 69g and is at 376g for the last four years.
Singh, however, rued that the country was low in value addition to milk, which is around 20 per cent. He also emphasised that the government had, in order to enhance the value addition, sanctioned a dedicated programme of dairy processing and an infrastructure fund, for which almost Rs 11,000 crore had been marked.
The minister also told that the government is undertaking a project to produce 3,000 high genetic merit bulls of indigenous bovine breeds. Also under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, 10 semen centres have been identified for production of the sex-sorted semen for the production of more female animals. Two such centres – in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, and Pune, Maharashtra – have been given approval.
