The Hindu : New Delhi News : Great scope for harnessing milk production in Eastern States

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Great scope for harnessing milk production in Eastern States

In order to meet the surging demand of dairy products

New Delhi: In the back drop of fears of India turning a net milk importer in the near future despite being the world's largest producing country due to rising demand, experts feel the volume could rise substantially by exploiting “untapped” potential in the Eastern States.

Out of 112 million tonnes milk production of the country at present, share of Eastern States like Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam is low at 14.29 million tonnes, according to official data for the year 2009-10.

Collective production of these Eastern States is less than Uttar Pradesh which alone produced 20.20 million tonnes in 2009-10.

This is revealed by the data sourced from State/UT Animal Husbandry Departments that was presented in Parliament last week.

After U.P., the major milk producing States are Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana.

The breakup of milk production in the Eastern States in 2009-10 is: Bihar (61,24,000 tonnes), West Bengal (43,00,000) tonnes, Orissa (16,51,000), Jharkhand (14,63,000 tonnes) and Assam (7,56,000 tonnes).

“Untapped so far”

“The potential of the Eastern States in milk production remains untapped so far. The country's milk production can be increased substantially by exploiting the potential in the Eastern States,” Dairy Microbiology division head of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) Karnal, Rameshwar Singh said.

The Haryana-based body is a premier institution for dairy research and education.

Mr. Singh said trend reflect that dairy sector saw growth mostly in areas like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which are the cradle of the Green Revolution.

Former Director of ICAR Mangla Rai echoed similar views.

“Eastern States holds great scope for the growth of milk production,” Mr. Rai said.

Harnessing milk production in Eastern States is significant as the country needs to enhance its milk production tremendously to match the surging demand.

Economic Survey tabled by the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday had noted that domestic demand for milk is growing at about six million tonnes per year, whereas annual incremental production over the last 10 years has been about 3.5 million tonnes on an average per year.

Considering that milk demand in 2021-22 will rise to 180 million tonnes as against the current output of 112 million tonnes, the survey said that the production must increase by 5.5 per cent annually over next 12 years to bridge the gap.

“If the country fails to do so, India may need to resort to imports from the world market,” it warned. - PTI

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