PM Modi to inaugurate World Dairy Summit on September 12 in Noida

A galaxy of union ministers led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, three chief ministers, over 1500 delegates from 50 foreign countries, around 800 farmers and scores of CEOs from world’s leading dairy companies will gather at the four-day International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit in Noida beginning from September 12.

The summit that is being held in India after gap of almost 48 years comes at a time when the country’s which is the world’s largest producer of milk and has huge population of cattle is facing one of the worst outbreaks of ‘Lumpy Skin Disease’ that has claimed the lives of thousands of animals and infected many more of them.

The disease that started from Rajasthan and Gujarat as per reports has now spread to almost 164 districts in 12 states across the country leading to death of over 50,000 cattle in quick time and is threatening to impact the country’s milk production in the coming flush season.

The mega event meanwhile will give a great exposure to Indian companies to gain expertise from global best practices in milk production that will ultimately benefit the smallholder milk production eco-system in India.

An exhibition space of over 6,900 square meter along with as many 24 sessions centered around the theme “Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood” covering different aspects of dairying will be part of the event.  

That apart three parallel technical sessions would be held for which more than 150 overseas and Indian speakers have been empaneled.

The technical sessions will be presided over by union cabinet ministers.

From the states, Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel and Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai are expected to be part of the event.

UP, Gujarat and Karnataka have a big role to play in India’s dairy sector and is home to one of the country’s largest cattle populations.

"India is number one in milk production and accounts for 23 per cent of the global output. Foreign delegates would be sharing their experience and talking about the latest technologies in the dairy sector. We would tell them about our experience," Animal Husbandry Minister Parshottam Rupala said today.

There are about eight crore dairy farmers in India mostly small and marginal (having at an average 2 bovines). The annual domestic production of milk in the country is estimated at 220 million tonne.

The summit, which is an annual meeting of the global dairy sector, will be a carbon-neutral event.

NDDB, which is one of the main drivers behind the event, said that the World Dairy Summit will be a great learning opportunity for dairy farmers, leaders, experts, scientists, professionals, and academics. 

Indian milk and dairy sector in numbers

a)   World’s largest diverse genetic pool of indigenous cattle and buffalo breeds-193 million cattle and about 110 million buffaloes.

b)   Over 45 per cent jump in milk production in last eight years

c)   Has created the largest database of around 22 crore animals.

d)   Stares the world’s largest ever vaccination program to eradicate FMD and Brucellosis in 2019.

e)   Milk is now the biggest farm commodity in India surpassing the combined value of cereals and pulses in terms of value of output.

f)    Milk prices paid to farmers have reportedly risen sharply in last few years