National roll-out of Digital Livestock Mission likely in April

The National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) is expected to be rolled out in the country by April this year to create a technology enabled and farmer-centric ecosystem to help the Indian dairy sector scale greater heights, R.K. Singh, secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, has said.

Besides creating a digital database of the country’s livestock wealth for planning and strategising, NDLM would greatly improve delivery of services to farmers and help them receive all information in right time, Singh said, addressing a national seminar on ‘Indian Dairy Industry—Vision 2030’ held here recently in connection with ‘Ksheera Sangamam 2023’ organised by the Kerala Dairy Development department.

The seminar, where speakers shared their perspectives on the dairy sector growth building on the strides made so far, was jointly organised by Milma, Indian Dairy Association, and the Department of Dairy Development.

Presiding over the seminar, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J. Chinchurani said the efforts of the State government and Milma in assuring a stable price for farmers and affordable price for consumers were the basic factors for the growth of the dairy sector in Kerala.

Delivering the key-note address, Meenesh C. Shah, chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), said there were five thrust areas that needed attention for further growth of the dairy sector—increasing animal productivity, enhancing quality of milk, tapping export potential, strengthening the organised sector, and adopting sustainable practices.

Pranabjyoti Nath, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairy Development, Government of Kerala, said Kerala had successfully initiated a set of projects to enable the growth of the dairy sector like application of technology, aggressive vaccination programme, entrepreneurial promotion, close disease surveillance, and adoption of sustainable practices.

Dr R.S. Sodhi, president, Indian Dairy Association, said the existence of a strong supply chain, built, owned and managed by farmers, was the greatest contributor to the success story of Indian dairy sector.

Dr Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director, Indian Institute of Plantation Management, said it was the individual farmer who made India the world’s biggest milk producer despite confronting serious challenges like low productivity and high input cost.

K.S. Mani, chairman, Milma, said it was a matter of pride for Kerala that it was the home State of Dr Verghese Kurien, who is hailed as ‘Milkman of India’.