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| Centre mulls plan to up milk production |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore Feb 02, 2010, 00:34 IST |
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The Centre has initiated measures to increase the productivity of milch animals to increase the per capita availability of milk in the country, K V Thomas, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, said.
Inaugurating VIV India 2010: An International Conference and Exhibition on Livestock Industry, here on Monday, he said presently India is the top milk producer, producing 108.5 million tonnes of milk during 2008-09. The per capita availability of milk was 258 gm per day during the year.
“Most of the milk is produced by small, marginal farmers and landless labourers who are grouped into cooperatives at the village level. To provide them a steady market and a remunerative price for milk produced, about 13.90 million farmers have been brought within the ambit of about 133,349 village-level dairy cooperative societies as part of Operation Flood,” Thomas said.
To popularise dairying as a means of livelihood, the Centre is examining launching National Dairy Plan for an outlay of Rs 1,371 crore to achieve a target of 180 million tonnes of annual milk production by 2021-22, a growth of 66 per cent over the present production, he said.
Milk production is expected to rise at 4 per cent, with an annual incremental output of 5 million tonnes in the next 15 years. The plan envisages improvement of breed, setting up plants to augment cattle feed, protein and mineral mixture. The plan proposes to bring 65 per cent of the surplus milk produced under organised sector for procurement as against the present 30 per cent, he added.
Stating that aquaculture is another important farming activity to support rural population, Thomas said there was a need for introducing realistic fisheries policy and need-based fisheries research in the country. The future development of aquaculture would depend upon improvements in new and adaptive research and management, especially in relation to emerging environmental issues and their migration.
There are a number of areas where private sector investments or projects in the public-private partnership mode could be promoted. These areas include composite fish culture, ornamental fisheries, commercial venture of cage, establishment of cold chain and infrastructure among others, Thomas added.
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