T Nanda Kumar, Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board, said the board was giving priority to two aspects – breeding of genetically better cows and buffaloes and increasing availability of balanced feeds — for raising milk productivity.

Fodder management At the 43rd Dairy Industry Conference here, Kumar said that at present, about one-fourth of the country’s breedable animals are covered under artificial insemination.

“This needs to be stepped up to bring about productivity improvement through genetic upgradation.

“Management of feed and fodder is going to be crucial. Area specific combinations need to be worked out and propagated,” the NDDB Chairman said.

Programme target Kumar said providing a balanced ration to 2.7 million milch animals in 40,000 villages through local resource persons using locally available feed ingredients was the target for the programme.

NDDB is attempting to activate this through a “digital connect with dairy” plan rolled out by the Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health.

This is a part of the ₹2,242-crore World Bank-financed National Dairy Plan (phase I).

Poor delivery service Although India has the largest single artificial insemination network in the world, its delivery services are inefficient and of poor quality.

Improper genetic evaluation and lack of records have resulted in inferior quality progenies.

India has a total bovine population of around 30.5 crore. This has put India at the top among milk producing countries.

However, average milk yield per animal (indigenous cow, buffalo and crossbred cow) is dismally low at less than a litre per kg of feed, against the global 1.6 litres.

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