India's milk production at 112 mn tonnes last fiscal

India's milk production grew by 3.3 per cent to 112 million tonnes in the last fiscal, Parliament was informed today.

"Milk production in the country grew by 3.3 per cent to 112 million tonnes in 2009-10 fiscal as compared to 108.4 million tonnes in the previous fiscal," Minister of State for Food and Agriculture K V Thomas said while responding to a written query in the Lok Sabha.

DM, Mother Dairy, Amul and others have increased milk prices by over Rs 6 per kg to ensure that farmers are compensated for rising production costs.
    
He said the reduced availability and increase in price of fodder due to drought conditions in 2009 led to the increase in milk prices.
    
The minister said that during the last fiscal, the National Dairy Development Board had allowed the import of 30,000 tonnes of milk powder and 15,000 tonnes of butter with zero import duty to augment the availability of liquid milk and stabilise the price of milk in the domestic market.
    
"All state governments have been requested to exempt or reduce VAT on molasses and other cattle feed ingredients used in manufacturing cattle feed to reduce the cost," Thomas said.