May 22, 2012

Israeli firm to develop new technology in India's milk industry

By using the latest technology and developing huge sheds for cattle, Israel-based Afimilk, which provides holistic solutions, has increased the productivity of milk of the country, while India fights rising milk prices due to inflation.

This technology will be, for the first time in India, replicated at Gandhinagar, as Afimilk's first demo farm is expected to be ready there in the next six to eight months. This will lead to increased milk production and in the long term, curb the rising milk prices.

In India, average milk procurement from a single cow stands around 1,300 litres per year. "In Israel, with the new technology, the procurement has gone as high as 13,000 litres per year from a cow. The technology not only increases productivity but also produces the best quality of milk with minimum amount of bacteria in it," said area manager, India & South East Asia, Afimilk, Ronen Koll.

Talking about the technology, Koll said that it is designed specifically for cows. "We built sheds where more than 1,000 cows can be accommodated. These sheds are designed such that despite being open, they keep the area cool to ensure that milk procurement does not fall even in summers," he said.

"The automated farm features exhaust fans, drinking water, and fodder and interestingly it needs merely 12 people to handle around 1,000 cows. Even the milking process is automated through machines with neither human interference nor outside air adulterating or increasing the bacteria counts in the milk," said Koll.

Similar to the co-operative model of Amul, Afimilk is a kibbutz (co-operative) model wherein three families run the company. Praising Amul's co-operative model, Koll said that it is undoubtedly the best co-operative model in the world and very huge.

"Amul has expertise in procuring milk from farmers, processing it and marketing it across the country. While Afimilk's dairy farm is focusing on only procurement of milk at a farmer's place," said Koll.

Many states from India are in talks with Afimilk to have them open such demo dairy farms with them. "But, Gujarat is the first state to start work on one. A co-operative company from Gandhinagar has approached us and we are currently replicating a demo dairy farm, which is expected to be ready in the next six to eight months," said Abraham Yehuda.

"Despite increasing milk production per cow and helping customers by curbing rising milk prices, farmers will continue to fetch more money as they will start production in mass." Yehuda said. He is the regional representative of India Dairy Market for Afimilk.

However, India consumes more buffalo milk than milk from cows. At this, Yehuda said that in the coming years, buffalo milk will become much more expensive. "Like the whole world, India may shift to cow's milk in the coming years," he said.