March 8, 2011

India unveils national dairy scheme to boost milk output

India's National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is all set to launch the over INR17,000 crore (US$3.76 billion) National Dairy Plan (NDP) to boost the country's milk production.

The NDDB will also receive financial assistance from World Bank's soft loan arm, IDA.

"The Planning Commission has conveyed that International Development Association loan for phase-I of NDP amounting to INR1,548 crore (US$0.34 billion) may when finalised be made available to NDDB as grant-in-aid," Minister of State for Agriculture Arun Yadav said.

In September 2008, Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had announced that the government is planning to launch a national dairy plan with an investment of over INR17,000 crore (US$3.76 billion) to increase milk production to 180 million tonnes by 2021-22.

The country's milk production is estimated at 116 million tonnes in this fiscal year.

Yadav said the dairy plan to be implemented through NDDB is a focussed, scientifically planned, multi-state initiative to increase the productivity of the milch animals to boost milk production and meet rising demand of the nutritious food item.

The first phase of the plan would be implemented in selected states and would cover some economically backward districts that have potential for dairy development.

The NDP has three major components including increasing productivity, strengthening and expanding the infrastructure for procurement, processing, marketing and quality assurance, and HRD.