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The world celebrated the 21st anniversary of World Milk Day on June 1, 2021. The day was first marked in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to recognise the important contributions of the dairy sector.
Though India has been celebrating its National Milk Day on November 26 since 2014 in memory of Dr Verghese Kurien, the Father of White Revolution, the significance of World Milk Day is yet to be realised by all stake holders the world over.
During the 1950s and 1960s, India was a milk deficit nation dependent on imports. To overcome this problem, the government set up NDDB in 1965 and requested Dr Kurien to replicate the ‘Anand pattern’ of dairy cooperative model throughout the country.
In 1970, NDDB launched a massive dairy development programme called ‘Operation Flood (OP)’ under Dr Kurien’s leadership to expand the dairy cooperative network, build dairy infrastructure, and increase women's participation in dairy cooperatives. The OP programme transformed India from a milk deficit nation into a leading milk producer of the world. Thanks to OP by 1998, India became self-sufficient and surpassed the US in milk production.
India's dairy industry is growing steadily at a rate of 6.4 per cent, well above the global annual growth rate of 2.2 per cent. The per capita availability of milk in the country has increased to 394 gms/day in 2018-19 which is much higher than the world average of 294 gms/day.
Besides, the dairy sector enhances the economic condition of 80 million landless, small and marginal farm households. The livestock sector also contributes about 4.11 per cent to India’s GDP and 25.6 per cent of agriculture GDP, whereas the dairy sector claims a major share by contributing 67 per cent to total livestock output (National Accounts Statistics, 2019).
Empowering women
The sector also is an important job provider, especially for women and plays a leading role in women’s empowerment.
As per the Agriculture Skill Council of India report, annually, 8.4 million small and marginal farmers depend on the dairy sector of which 71 per cent are women.
Thus, it can be said that the dairy sector is a vital driver for helping India achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Further, keeping in mind the nutritional value of milk, in 2018, an advisory was issued to all States to include milk in the Mid-day Meal Scheme and other nutritional programmes of anganwadis and in the ongoing health schemes.
The Department of Food and Public Distribution has also been urged to include milk in the PDS system. This is likely to increase milk consumption, which in turn will yield better returns for dairy farmers in the flush season.
But India’s milk production is highly skewed with only 10 States producing 81 per cent of the total milk output , and only nine States achieving per capita availability of milk at par with the national level.
This concentration in production in a few States is due to their robust dairy cooperative networks, and a higher remunerative price. Despite having a significant livestock base of milch animals and being the largest milk producer globally, India lacks in cold storages, which results in wastage of milk and milk products.
Thus, the lack of adequate storage facilities and inefficient distribution are hampering the growth of the Indian dairy and milk processing industry. The Covid-19 pandemic has also adversely affected the dairy sector with fall in procurement.
So the government needs to devise a suitable dairy development policy for enhancing milk production and procurement in the remaining potential districts and States. Dairy promotion among small and landless farmers is important for increasing milk availability, particularly in milk deficit regions and also generate jobs.
Moreover, the recent government announcement for setting up ₹15,000-crore fund for Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development will help to promote private investments in the sector and improve cattle feed infrastructure.
Finally, this move will provide a boost to local manufacturing and consumption of locally produced goods and help in furthering India’s objective of achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The writer is Lecturer in Economics at Vikram Deb (Autonomous) College, Jeypore, Odisha
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