Dairy Development Schemes in India - A Glimpse
Author: Thulasiraman P., Darshnaben Mahida, Vanishree M and R Sendhil

India is the leading producer of milk in the world since 1998 with the largest bovine population. The per capita availability of milk has tripled (130 gm/day to 322 gm/day) in the past six decades, 1950-51 to 2014-15, indicating the immense growth and sustainability in milk availability for the nation against the burgeoning population. Next to crop production, dairy/animal farming becomes the secondary source of income for a majority of the farming community in our nation, especially small and marginal farmers as well as landless laborers. The milk produced by these farmers are collected and distributed to consumers by various means. One of the major routes is through co-operative societies. Till March 2015, a total of 15.46 million farmers have been brought under co-operative societies in our nation. In order to continue this tremendous achievement, Government of India (GOI) has been making a lot of efforts through different schemes to strengthen the animal/dairy sector since independence. Among them the Intensive cattle development project (ICDP), Key village scheme, AMUL pattern and Operation flood played a significant role. Further to strengthen the dairy sector with the growing demand for animal products, National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development (NPBBDD), Rashtriya Gokul Mission and National Dairy Plan (NDP) schemes have been announced by the Central Government. The following section furnishes the highlights of recent and popular dairy development programmes targeting different section of stakeholders.

1. National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development (NPBBDD)

NPBBDD is a fusion of two national level programmes viz., National Programme for Bovine Breeding (NPBB) and National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), which was started in 2014 by combining four major schemes namely Intensive Dairy Development Programme (IDPP), Strengthening Infrastructure for Quality & Clean Milk Production (SIQ&CMP), Assistant to Cooperatives (A-C) and National Project for Cattle & Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB). The estimated budget allocation was to the tune of INR 1800 crores. The major objectives of this scheme are to provide Artificial Insemination (AI) at farmers' doorstep, bring all breedable females under organized breeding patter, promote indigenous bovine breeds of high socio-economic importance and prevent it from extinction and deterioration. It is a national level programme and is being actively implemented across states for dairy development.

2. Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM)

As per the 19th livestock census, India have 190.9 million cattle, out of that 151 million are indigenous. Indigenous cattle by virtue have many qualities such as tolerance to heat, disease resistance with less optimal nutrition. Additionally, Indian breed cattle milk has A2 allele of beta casein which has no health risks in comparison to the exotic cattle milk. Despite quality traits, the milk productivity is not commendable due to poor management and nutrition. Hence, the GOI developed a new scheme to conserve and develop indigenous breeds with scientific approach called Rashriya Gokul Mission (launched in December 2014), with an estimate of INR 500 crores initially from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The objectives are to conserve and develop the indigenous breeds, upgradation of non-descriptive cattle using elite indigenous breeds viz., like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar and Red Sindhi, and distribution of disease free bulls for natural service. Out of INR 500 crores, INR 150 crores is intended for development, preservation and conservation of indigenous breeds. The scheme is implemented through the State Implementing Agency (SIA): Livestock Development Boards. Under this scheme it was proposed that â€Å"Gokul Gram" - Integrated Indigenous Cattle Centres to be established across implementing states. The â€Å"Gokul Gram" will be established in the naïve breeding tracts and will be a self-sustaining venture. The centres are expected to generate their own income through the sale of A2 milk and animal products, organic manure, vermin-compost, urine distillates as well as production of electricity from biogas for self consumption. The mode of operation will be under Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The centre will serve as a state of art in situ training centre for different stakeholders and will maintain milch and unproductive animals in the ratio of 60:40. Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) will be utilized in a larger scale to capitalize the set objectives of the mission programme.

3. National Dairy Plan (NDP)

It is expected that Indian milk demand will be around 200 million tonnes by 2021-22. To meet this growing demand, a highly specialized breeding and feeding programme is needed. Hence, the GOI have approved the National Dairy Plan (NDP), which has three phases. NDP-I has been implemented in 18 states (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Orissa, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand) of India with an initial estimated budget of INR 2242 crores from 2011-12 to 2016-17. The main motto is to produce milk as per the national demand and to help the organized processing sector to have access with the rural organic milk producers.

4. National Mission on Bovine Productivity

The National Mission on Bovine Productivity was launched during November 2016. The aim of the mission is to increase the milk productivity of bovine resulting in the higher overall national production. The ultimate goal of the programme is to make dairying a more profitable enterprise and invite more farmers under animal husbandry. The mission has been started with the following elements: (i) Establishment of Pashu Sanjivni which comprise identification of animals using the Unique Identification (UID) technique, distribution of health cards as well as creation of national level database, (ii) Implementation of advance reproductive techniques among bovine population, (iii) Creation of e-Pashu Haat website intended to link farmers and breeders of indigenous breeds, and (iv) Establishment of National Bovine Genomic Centre for Indigenous Breeds and the purpose was to increase the milk productivity adopting genomic selection.

5. Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)

Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) has been established in 2017 with an outlay of INR 10881 crores for 2017-18 to 2028-29. It will be set up with a corpus of INR 8004 crores in collaboration with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Under the DIDF, it has been proposed that out of the total estimated outlay (INR 10881 crores), INR 8004 crore (74%) shall be given as a loan from NABARD to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy Development Cooperation (NCDC) for developmental activities. Subsequently, the NABARD shall disburse an amount of INR 2004 crores, INR 3006 crores and INR 2994 crores respectively during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for implementing the planned programmes.

6. Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)

The Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AIHIDF) was proposed in the Union Budget 2018-19 to improve the institutional financing mechanism. It has been proposed to finance the infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector with a total corpus of INR 10000 crores. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will facilitate the financing system. The AHIDF will serve as a supplement to the earlier operational DIDF.

Conclusions

Historically, a majority of the schemes were focused mainly on milk production. Considering the growing demand for milk and milk based products in the country, the Government is formulating schemes and plans to sustain the milk production. To keep up with the momentum, indigenous breed development and conservation, enhanced breeding and nutrition and developing infrastructure facilities have been added as new paradigm to the recent schemes which serves as a mandate for addressing the ongoing issues in sustainability of the present production

References

1. DAHD (Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries), Government of India. Available from http://dahd.nic.in/about-us/divisions/cattle-and-dairy-development. Accessed on 22/02/2018. NDP (National Dairy Plan). National Dairy Development Board, Government of India. Available from http://www.nddb.coop/sites/default/files/pdfs/NDP%20Brochure-Eng-single%20page).pdf. Accessed on 24/02/2018.
2. NPBBDD (National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development). Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Government of India. Available from http://dahd.nic.in/sites/default/filess/NPBBandDD.pdf. Accessed on 25/02/2018.
3. PIB (Press Information Bureau), Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Available from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=176062. Accessed on 20/02/2018.
4. RGM (Rashtriya Gokul Mission). Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Government of India. Available from http://dahd.nic.in/sites/default/filess/Concept%20Note%20%20Rashtriya%20Gokul%20Mission.pdf. Accessed on 25/02/2018.



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