Lakhs of dairy farmers and their families committed themselves to making India the ‘Dairy of the World’ on the occasion of World Milk Day saying that the only way forward to alleviate rural India from poverty and bring about socio economic changes is by working towards establishing the country as the global leader in the dairy sector.
On this occasion, the dairy farmer members of 22 Milk Producer Companies (Farmer Producer Organizations which embody principles similar to Cooperatives) came together and committed themselves to: ‘Make India Dairy of the World by increasing India’s share to the total world production’; ‘Provide quality milk and milk products to consumers by sourcing milk even from the remotest part of the country’; ‘Provide a competitive price to farmer members through a fair and transparent process of milk collection and making payments in their respective bank accounts’ and ‘Increase milk productivity through breed improvement programs and better animal management practices’.
Meenesh Shah, Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) said, ‘The world dairying community only months’ back paid rich tributes to rural India and dairy farmers at the World Dairy Summit 2022.
“Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has envisioned that India should become the dairy for the world. We are part of this proud community of milk producers and are working on numerous initiatives for enhancing production and productivity in India towards making the dream of the Prime Minister a reality”, underlined Shah.
In colourful events from distant Tirupati to coastal Gujarat to the spreads of Rajasthan and the hinterlands of UP and Bihar, the dairy farmers took the pledge and thanked the Government for outlining the way forward by giving them a cherished goal of making the country a global leader to attain the target of 33% market share in the decade to come.
It is pertinent to note that India’s collective drive towards ‘Dairy of the World’ has women empowerment ingrained into it, as out of 22 Milk Producer Companies supported by NDS, 15 have all-women membership and all the Producer Directors’ on their Boards too are women.
These 22 MPCs spread across 130 districts in 9 states of the country, have 8.7 Lakh members and 71% of them are women.
The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in collaboration with the Agriculture Production Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, celebrated World Milk Day by organizing a Summer Meet for the animal husbandry and dairying sector on 1st-2nd June, 2023 at SKICC, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
On the occasion the Union Minister Parshottam Rupala said “The World Milk Day provides an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the nutritional value and benefits of milk, recognize the contributions of dairy farmers, processors, and consumers, and foster meaningful discussions and exchanges of ideas during the summer meet.”
Among other things, Amul celebrated the Day with a doodle featuring Amul’s mascot, the Amul girl. The latter says “Milk de sabko energy; Amul celebrates World Milk Day.”
