The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 organised at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, on September 12, 2022.
About IDF-WDS 2022
- The four-day-long IDF WDS 2022, held from 12th to 15th September, is a congregation of global and Indian dairy stakeholders including industry leaders, experts, farmers and policy planners centring around the theme of ‘Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood’.
- The last such Summit was held in India about half a century ago in 1974.
Uniqueness of India’s dairy sector
- The Prime Minister pointed out that unlike other developed countries of the world, the driving force of the dairy sector in India is small farmers. India’s dairy sector is characterized by “production by masses” more than “mass production”.
- India is the largest milk-producing country on the basis of the efforts of these small farmers with one, two or three cattle.
- This sector provides employment to more than 8 crore families in the country.
- The success story of the Indian dairy industry, accounting for about 23% of global milk, producing around 210 million tonnes annually, and empowering more than 8 crore dairy farmers, will be showcased at the IDF WDS 2022.
- Explaining the second unique characteristic of the Indian dairy system, the Prime Minister reiterated that there is such a huge network of Dairy Cooperative in India, and one cannot find such an example in the whole world elsewhere.
- The Prime Minister drew everyone’s attention to the fact that there is no middleman in the entire process, and more than 70 per cent of the money that is received from the customers goes directly into the pockets of the farmers.
- Another unique feature, according to the Prime Minister, is the indigenous breeds that can withstand many adverse circumstances.
- He gave the example of the sturdy buffalo breed of Banni Buffalo of the Kutch region of Gujarat. He also talked about other buffalo breeds such as Murrah, Mehsana, Jafrabadi, Nili Ravi, and Pandharpuri; among the cow breeds, he mentioned Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Kankrej, Tharparker and Haryana.
- As another unique characteristic, the Prime Minister highlighted the power of women in the dairy sector, the Prime Minister pointed out that women have a 70% representation in the workforce in India’s dairy sector.
Dairy sector initiatives
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission(RGM) has been launched for development and conservation of indigenous bovine.
- National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) has been launched for creating/strengthening of infrastructure for production of quality milk, procurement, processing and marketing of milk and milk products by State Implementing Agency.
- National Livestock Mission (NLM) has been launched for sustainable growth and development of livestock sector particularly sheep/goat/pig and poultry & increasing availability of feed and fodder, risk management and livestock.
- Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) has been launched for Incentivizing investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) and Section 8 companies to establish (i) dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, (ii) meat processing and value addition infrastructure and (iii) Animal Feed Plant.
Milk production in India
- Milk production in 1950-51 stood at merely 17 Million Tonnes (MT). In 1968-69, prior to the launch of Operation Flood, milk production was only 21.2 MT which increased to 30.4 MT by 1979-80, 51.4 MT by 1989-90 and 209.96 MT by 2020-21.
- In three decades (the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s), the daily milk consumption in the country rose from a low of 107 grams per person in 1970 to 427 grams per person in 2020-21.
Milk Day
- Every year, since 2001, June 1 is observed as World Milk Day by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to acknowledge the importance of milk as a global food and to celebrate the dairy sector.
- In India, the birthday of Dr Verghese Kurien, on November 26, is observed as National Milk Day.
