The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Domestic demand for milk is increasing, says Sharad Pawar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 08, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Domestic demand for milk is increasing, says Sharad Pawar

Staff Reporter

‘National Dairy Plan to achieve 180 million tonnes of milk ready’

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

All smiles: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily at the launch of the semen station at Hesaraghatta in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: “The domestic demand for milk and milk products is growing at a fast rate and to meet it we have to increase productivity of our bovines by improving breeds, providing nutrition, health services and marketing support to dairy farmers, besides quality improvement at all levels,” Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar said on Saturday.

He was speaking after inaugurating the state-of-the-art semen station at the Central Frozen Semen Production and Training Institute at Hesarghatta here.

Mr. Pawar said that the National Dairy Development Board had prepared a comprehensive National Dairy Plan to address these issues with an aim to achieve 180 million tonnes of milk production target by the end of 13th Plan (2021-22).

He said that feed and fodder scarcity in the country was a major limiting factor in enhancing animal productivity. “Given the limited area under fodder cultivation, it is necessary to develop high yielding, short duration and drought resistant varieties of fodder seeds to make fodder cultivation more remunerative,” he said.

Mr. Pawar said the targeted growth of four per cent in agriculture would be possible if livestock and fisheries sector grew at six per cent and milk production increased at five per cent.

The Centre had been providing fund and technical support to States to improve their breeding programmes and services. Under the National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding, the Centre had provided Rs. 550 crore assistance to 28 States and one Union Territory to support their development programmes. “Quality and quantity of frozen semen has improved. Forty-seven semen production centres owned and operated by different agencies have upgraded their standards and improved the quality of bulls.”

He said that the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana had made it possible for State governments to take up schemes in animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. “I have written to the Chief Ministers that the animal husbandry sector should get its due share, proportionate to its contribution to the State agricultural GDP.”

Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law and Justice, urged Mr. Pawar to set up an institute of animal biotechnology in Hesarghatta. “Land is available and Hesarghatta has the right environment. Karnataka has established itself in the biotechnology sector and finding skilled personnel for the institute will not be a problem,” he said.

He stressed the need to invest in research in increasing productivity of milch animals. “We have the potential to overtake Gujarat in terms of milk production. The State Government should look to research to achieve it,” he added.

Speaking about the new semen station, V.K. Arora, director of the institute, said all modern scientific concepts of semen collection, processing and package technologies along with bio-security measures had been incorporated in the station.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka