No reports received on milk, its products shortage by Govt: Rupala

The Centre has said the milk procurement in the country increased by 5.6 per cent in June.

Replying to a query in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday on whether there is milk shortage in the country, Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said no such report has been received about the shortage of milk and milk product in the country. “The milk procurement has increased in June 2023 by 5.6 per cent compared to last year,” he said.

Referring to the inputs received from major dairy cooperatives, he said the stock of skimmed milk powder has increased from 1.16 lakh tonnes (lt) in May to 1.3 lt in June.

Stating that the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, does not regulate the procurement and sale prices of milk in the country, he said prices are decided by the cooperative and private dairies based on their cost of production and market forces.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing dairy development schemes to help improve milk production and to meet the increasing demand of milk and milk products in the country. These schemes provides for assistance in terms of input services, disease control, breed improvement, etc., apart from creation of dairy infrastructure to support milk market access, remunerative price amongst others, across the year which thereby help enhance the income of farmers across the country, he said.

Promotion of desi cows

To another question on “desi” (indigenous) cow varieties, he said the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Institute for Research on Cattle (CIRC), Meerut, is working on the Indigenous Breeds Project (IBP) under the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Cattle for propagation and genetic improvement of important desi cattle breeds such as Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal.

The programme promotes the rearing of Gir and Kankrej breeds of cattle in the farmers’ herds for higher milk production. Moreover, dissemination of frozen semen doses of these breeds to inseminate the females in the farmers’ herds for their extensive propagation has also been done.

ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) is also working on Tharparkar indigenous breed of cow, along with Gir and Sahiwal, he said.

Co-op database

Meanwhile, Amit Shah, Union Cooperation Minister, in a written reply said the Union Ministry of Cooperation is developing a comprehensive National Cooperative Database in a phased manner. Mapping of about 2.64 lakh primary co-operative societies of three sectors — primary agriculture credit societies (PACS), dairy, and fisheries — has been completed in February under Phase-I.

Under Phase-II, mapping of national co-operative societies/federations has been completed.

Under Phase-III, the database is being extended to the remaining co-operative societies working in all other sectors. He said the National Cooperative Database will be released upon completion of data collection under Phase-III.

Records oilseeds output

In a written reply to a question on the production of oilseeds and edible oil in the country, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, said the Government has continuously been making efforts to achieve the self-sufficiency in edible oils in the country.

Due to consistent efforts of the Government, the oilseed production is at an all-time high. The production has increased from 315.22 lt in 2018-19 to 409.97 lt in 2022-23.

He said the production of edible oil has increased from 103.52 lt in 2018-19 to 123.25 lt in 2022-23.

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