New Delhi, December 19 (IANS). Animal Husbandry and Dairy Department (DAHD) Secretary Alka Upadhyay said in a review meeting on Thursday that the overall situation of milk in the country is stable. He said that in November the wholesale inflation rate and retail inflation rate of milk and dairy products stood at 2.09 percent and 2.85 percent respectively, which is low.
Alka Upadhyay said that there is adequate stock of skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder, white butter and ghee. Also, there has been an increase in milk procurement and milk procurement prices in the last year.
He informed that India stood first in the world with milk production of about 239.3 million tonnes in the financial year 2023-24.
He advised all milk unions to show active participation in the Midday Meal and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, as these represent the largest institutional domestic market for the dairy sector. .
The meeting was attended by representatives of National Dairy Development Board and National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India as well as officials of DAHD and State Cooperative Dairy Unions and Milk Unions from across the country.
During the review, the status of milk in the country and the progress being made by the state milk unions were discussed in detail.
Alka Upadhyay stressed that dairy unions should focus on increasing milk procurement and increasing the price paid to farmers, while also considering the interests of consumers.
During the meeting, the initiatives taken by state milk unions like Amul (Gujarat), Nandini (Karnataka), Saras (Rajasthan) and Megha (Jharkhand) were appreciated and it was recommended that other unions should also make similar efforts. Needed
DAHD is also continuously collaborating with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Human Resource Development to promote the inclusion of milk in the Mid Day Meal and ICDS programmes.
It was observed that the consumption of processed dairy has increased by 20 percent in line with the production.
The meeting had a detailed discussion on the strategies and initiatives required to advance milk processing into value added products and subsequently, detailed presentations were made by NDDB on support to the States for valuation of projects under the National Dairy Development Programme. Was offered.
–IANS
SKT/