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Higher production possible with increased productivity: Dr Amrita Patel
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Saturday, 25 September, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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Dairying must continue to remain a remunerative occupation for milk producers, as they would produce more milk only if the income from sale of milk was attractive. This meant that as the cost of milk production rose, there was no option but for consumers to pay higher and higher prices for milk. The only answer therefore to moderate prices and still meet the growing demand for milk was to increase the productivity of milch animals.
Dr Amrita Patel, chairman, National Dairy Development Board, addressed the National Seminar on “Indian Dairy and Food Industry – Future Roadmap for Sustainable Growth” on September 24 at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, with some introspection on the dairy industry.
Even though milk production had been increasing steadily, the demand for milk appeared to be increasing at a much faster rate. The increase in incomes and improved redistribution of such income in both urban and rural areas was fuelling this growth in demand, which did not seem to be significantly affected by increases in consumer price thereby confirming the growing purchasing power of urban households. “For low and middle income households, there should be an increasing concern over the rise in consumer price of milk, “ said Dr Patel.
The projected demand for milk by 2021-22 estimated at 180 million tonnes implied that milk production would have to be doubled and this would require India to increase its milk production (which has been growing annually at about 3.2 million tonnes over the last 15 years) to 6 million tonnes annually, without compromising on competitive advantage. The National Dairy Plan (NDP) had projected the organised dairy sector growing to handle about 65% of the marketable surplus by 2021-22 from the current level of about 30%.
As milk producers in India depended on crop residues and byproducts for feeding their animals, the profitability in milk production was dependent on an adequate supply of feed ingredients at reasonable prices. Referring to the stagnation in total food grain production and the reduction by nearly 15 million tonnes during 2009-10, Dr Patel said that the decline seemed to have impacted on the price of dry fodder, the cheapest ingredient in the animal’s ration, the price of which went up threefold. She also emphasised that a variety of initiatives needed to be undertaken at the earliest to protect the natural ecosystem, which included the uplands, water bodies and soil.
Feed constituted 70 % of the cost of milk production. With availability of quality feed becoming a necessary constraint, the technologies that improve the efficiency of utilisation of the feed ingredients such as bypass protein, bypass fat, area specific mineral mixtures needed to be disseminated on a much wider scale. Farmers needed to be educated on what a balanced ratio was and the impact it could have on increasing milk yield and reducing the cost of feeding.
To accelerate genetic progress, the NDP envisaged that the proportion of bovines bred through AI be raised substantially from the current level of 20 % of breed able animals to around 50 % in the next 15 years, with the remaining female bovines being bred through natural service. But the most difficult was the delivery of quality AI service at the farmer’s doorstep. To achieve the target of breeding 50% breed able animals through AI would mean that the number of AIs to be carried out annually would be needed to increase from the current level of 45 million AIs per annum to 135 million AIs by 2021-22. The State Governments were the largest AI service providers. They would be needed to shift their AI service from stationary AI centres to mobile. Dr Patel hoped that state governments would begin to appreciate the gravity of the consequences of not creating an environment for more service providers to enter – namely that the growth in milk production would just not take place and the country would be left with no alternative but to resort to imports.
NDDB chairman opined that the teaching institutions needed to interact far more with the dairy industry and more importantly with the farmers. The graduates needed to be prepared to lead effective extension programmes and become the active link between the farmer, service providers and research institutes. “They must become innovators and be encouraged to become entrepreneurs. Ultimately, it was these professionals who were the only hope of being the instruments of change.”
Dr Patel said that the NDRI had a very special role to play as a partner to the industry in undertaking research and also in preparing manpower to meet the specific needs of the industry. It needed to act as the bridge between industry, legal authorities and consumer organisations to work towards overcoming the myths surrounding milk and milk products being unhealthy or harmful.
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