Attending the 49th Dairy Industry Conference organized by the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) as the chief guest at Gandhinagar, Union Cooperation Minister, Amit Shah asked the participants to make India’s dairy sector the strongest in the world. Shah said that we have to move forward with the goal that by the year 2033-34 India should produce 33 percent of the world’s milk with about 330 MMT milk production every year.
Shah said that the dairy and animal husbandry sector contributes 4.5 per cent to the country’s GDP and the contribution of dairy sector to agriculture sector is 24 per cent, which is valued around Rs 10 Lakh crore and it is the highest in the world. Shah said that dairy is a strong part of our economy and in terms of employment, about 45 crore people from 9 crore rural households, especially marginal farmers and women, are directly associated with the dairy sector today.
Several dignitaries which included Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel, IDA International President, President of Indian Chapter R S Sodhi, NDDB Chief Meenesh Shah, among others were present on the occasion.
In his address, Shah said that dairy is a business for the world but in a country like India with a population of 130 crore, it is a source of employment, an alternative to strengthen the rural economy, a solution to the problems of malnutrition and a sector of immense potential for women empowerment.
Shah said that the Cooperative Dairy which worked has for the prosperity of the farmers, has huge a contribution in this. Cooperative dairy has paved the path for making the country’s poor women farmers self-reliant. He said that in the 75th year of independence, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi formed the Ministry of Cooperation to fulfil the mantra of “Sahkar se Samridhi”.
He said that the Ministry of Cooperation, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Department of Animal Husbandry formed by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will establish rural dairies in 2 lakh panchayats in the country and then the growth rate of the dairy sector will reach 13.80 percent.
He said that our milk processing capacity is about 126 million liters per day, which is the highest in the world.
Shri Shah said that we process 22 percent of our total milk production, which benefits the farmer in the form of increased income. He said that in the export of dairy products also products like milk powder, butter and ghee have a major share and there is immense potential in this. He said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has formed a Multistate Cooperative Society for exports and by connecting it with these 2 lakh rural dairies there is a possibility of increasing exports by 5 times.
Shah said that there is a need for White Revolution-2 in the country today and we are moving forward in this direction under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He said that the cooperative model in the dairy sector touches all aspects including income, nutrition, livestock care, protecting human interest, employment and women empowerment.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today India’s share in milk production has gone up to 21 percent and the Amul model has contributed a lot in this. He said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is making every possible effort for 360-degree development of the dairy sector in India.
