We have to set target to contribute 33% of milk production by 2033-34: Shah

Union minister Amit Shah said Saturday that his ministry of cooperation would set up milk producing committees in two lakh villages across the country and target a production capacity of 330 million metric tonnes by 2033-34.

Addressing the valedictory session of the 49th Dairy Industry Conference in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar city, Shah said, “If Operation Flood had not started, India would have never become atmanirbhar with respect to milk. But the need is for milk revolution 2.0, for which work has begun.”

Operation Flood was launched by the Dr Verghese Kurein-led National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in the 1970s.

“In the last one decade, our dairy sector has grown at an annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent. But I want to assure you that the cooperation ministry along with NDDB will set up new primary milk producing committees in two lakh panchayats and raise this growth rate to 13.8 per cent,” he said at the event, where he praised R S Sodhi—former managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, or Amul, and president of the Indian Dairy Association—for organising the three-day event.

“We have made a multi-state cooperative society for exports. When it is connected with these two lakh dairy unions, our exports are expected to rise five times,” Shah said without mentioning a timeline. India accounts for less than one per cent of global milk exports.

Experts participating in the conference said India should regulate the use of chemicals in the dairy sector to boost the quality and export of milk.

“If these two lakh new primary milk producing committees are formed, then in the coming days, India is expected to account for 33 per cent of the world’s total milk production. We will have to explore this together with the Centre, state governments and cooperatives… We have to move forward by targeting a milk production capacity of 330 million metric tonne by 2033-34, where India will account for 33 per cent of the world’s total milk production,” he added.

The Union minister also said that between 1970 and 2022, as the population rose four times, the milk production increased more than 10 times. “In 1970, the per capita consumption of milk was 107g, while today it is 427g per person, which is more than the world average of 322g,” he said.

Shah said that nine crore rural families were directly connected to the dairy industry in India. “This means 45 crore people are connected to the sector, especially marginal farmers with minor land holdings and women,” he added.