• India is the world’s largest milk producing nation and provides livelihood to more than eight crore farmers.

• The country’s milk production has increased by 44 per cent to 210 million tonnes now from 146 million tonnes in 2014. The country’s milk production is growing at six per cent annually, higher than the global growth rate of two per cent. 

• India’s share in global production is estimated to nearly double to 45 per cent in the next 25 years from 23 per cent now.

• Dairy is the single largest agricultural commodity contributing 5 per cent of the national economy.

• India’s dairy sector is worth Rs 8.5 lakh crore, the value of which is higher than total production of rice and wheat, and the driving force of the dairy sector is women.

• India’s milk production is expected to jump three-fold to 628 million tonnes in the next 25 years with an average annual growth of 4.5 per cent.

• With 319 lakh metric tonnes of annual milk production, Uttar Pradesh contributes 16 per cent of India’s dairy production and is the top milk producing state in the country. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are other top milk producing states.

International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022, being organised at India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida.

• The four-day summit is a congregation of global and Indian dairy stakeholders, including industry leaders, experts, farmers and policy planners centring around the theme ‘Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood’.

• The last such summit was held in India about half a century ago in 1974.

Key points highlighted by PM Modi:

• The PM said the Centre and state governments are trying to control the spread of Lumpy Skin Disease in livestock, which has led to the loss of cattle in different parts of the country. An indigenous vaccine has been developed for Lumpy Skin Disease. It is a contagious viral infection that affects cattle and causes fever, nodules on the skin, and can also lead to death. Thousands of cattle have died since July due to LSD in more than eight states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.

• India is building the largest database of dairy animals and every animal associated with the dairy sector is being tagged. Under the ‘Pashu Aadhaar’, digital identification of livestock is being done to keep track of their health, which will also help in expanding the dairy sector. The government is also working on developing a balanced dairy ecosystem to address the challenges in the sector along with a focus on increasing production.

• The PM underlined the centrality of ‘Pashu Dhan’ and milk-related business in the cultural landscape of India.

• Unlike other developed countries of the world, the driving force of the dairy sector in India is small farmers. India’s dairy sector is characterised by “production by masses” more than “mass production”.

• Due to small farmers’ efforts, India is the world’s largest milk producing nation and provides livelihood to more than 8 crore farmers. This uniqueness of India’s dairy sector is rare to see in other parts and can be a good business model for many poor nations in the world.

• A unique characteristic of India’s dairy is the cooperative system. Dairy cooperatives collect milk twice a day from about two crore farmers in more than two lakh villages and deliver it to the customers.

• The indigenous breeds can withstand many adverse climatic circumstances. 

• Another unique feature of the dairy sector is women power. Women have a 70 per cent representation in the workforce in dairy sector.

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