Govt seeks Rs 16K cr loan from JICA for dairy development

The government has sought Rs 16,027 crore loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for various programmes to develop dairy sector and meet rising domestic demand for milk and milk products.
"Government has submitted a proposal for availing loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency for 'Dairying through Cooperatives-National Dairy Infrastructure Plan'," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
The proposal is in line with the government's aim to double farmers' income in the next five years.
"The total outlay of the proposal is Rs 20,057 crore," the statement said, adding the proposal has been forwarded by Department of Economic Affairs to JICA.

Out of the total outlay of the proposal, Rs 16,027.07 crore loan has been sought from JICA, sources said.
"The fund will be routed through National Dairy Development Board for the development of dairy sector," the statement said.

India ranks first among the world's milk producing nations since 1998 and has the largest bovine population in the world. The country's milk production has increased to about 155 million tonnes from 17 million tonnes in 1950-51.
About 54 per cent of the milk produced is surplus for marketing in the domestic market, of which only 20.5 per cent is procured/processed by the organised sector being equally shared by co-operatives and private dairy organizations.

"To meet the growing demand, which is estimated to be in the range of 200-210 million tonnes by 2021-22, the country needs to upgrade its infrastructure at the village level particularly for milk procurement and production of high valued milk products," the statement said.
The proposal aims to cover additional 1.28 lakh villages and 121.83 lakh additional milk producers.
It seeks to set up 1.05 lakh bulk milk coolers at village level, create 524.20 lakh kg per day capacity of milk chilling and establish milk and milk product processing infrastructure of 76.5 lakh kg per day capacity.
Besides, the programme will modify/expand old milk and milk product plants created 20-30 years ago under Operation Flood and create milk and milk products plants for value added products which will benefit 160 lakh existing farmers.

The animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries department has formulated a draft national action plan for dairy development.