NDDB plans to launch handloom, handicrafts brand this year, says MD

NDDB plans to launch a women farmer-owned handicrafts and handloom brand this year while expanding its FPO network to boost rural incomes

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is working to launch a handicrafts and handloom brand, which might be owned by women farmers, C P Devanand, managing director of NDDB Dairy Services, said here on Tuesday.

 

He was speaking at the launch of a Compendium of Inspiring Women in Food Systems by CII.

 

“This year we are coming out with handicrafts and handlooms. Probably by the end of this year we will be launching a brand which will be owned by the women farmers,” Devanand said.

 

While NDDB Dairy Services, a subsidiary of NDDB, runs Milk Producer Organisations (MPOs), the apex body also procures over 10 agricultural commodities, including maize, mustard and mangoes, through its Fodder Plus FPOs network.

   

“Initially, the Fodder Plus FPOs were handling only fodder and taking care of the nutrition requirements of the animals. But now we have also started procuring all these commodities through the Fodder Plus FPOs,” Devanand said.

 

He said that last year NDDB did around ₹50 crore of business in these commodities, which it is looking to increase fivefold to around ₹250 crore through the same network in 2026.

 

Fodder Plus FPOs were proposed in 2022 under a Central Sector scheme to strengthen fodder availability and input support to milk producers by reducing feed costs. NDDB is the implementing agency for setting up these FPOs.

 

“We started scaling the network, like making agarbattis, achar, and all those kinds of things, so that it increases the income… looking at the local traditions and the resources available there and trying to scale them,” Devanand said.

 

According to NDDB, for agricultural commodities, MPOs handle aggregation, while NDDB Dairy Services oversees quality control and warehousing. Mother Dairy further markets and distributes the products.

 

“Now, roughly ₹13,000 to ₹14,000 a month is what a woman farmer gets from dairy… and our objective is to increase it to ₹1 lakh a month over the next 10 years at least, so that people come here as some kind of a profession and not some kind of a side activity,” Devanand said, emphasising the need for enhanced productivity, capital and capacity building in the dairy sector. He added that interventions are also planned to attract youth to the dairy sector.