26.3.11

Operation Flood 2.0


After the first white revolution ushered in by the Anand experiment, the country will see another gigantic project to raise milk production. Called the National Dairy Plan, the project that will cost Rs 17,000 crore, is aimed at raising milk output by 50 per cent in 10 years. Once again the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) will be at the helm of the project, which will be part of the 12th five-year plan. The objective is to raise milk production to 180 million tonnes by 2021 from 112.5 million tonnes now. The project may not be outlined in the approach paper to 12th plan to be finalised next month but be included with details in the plan document, to be prepared later. The 12th plan begins in April 2012.
According to the broad outlines, NDDB will oversee and implement the project and several producer companies will be set up, besides cooperatives, to implement the project.
An NDDB official said the project to be implemented over five to seven years was expected to have total outlay of around Rs 17,300 crore. The budget outlay for dairy develop ment in 2011-12 is just Rs 250 crore, mainly for an intensive dairy development project, co-operatives and infrastructure for quality and clean milk.
The World Bank, which had provided assistance to the earlier white revolution in 1958 onwards, is likely to provide up to $400 million for the new project. NDP will try to increase milk production to 180 million tonnes by 2021 NDDB will oversee and implement it and several producer firms will be set up 1 NDP , which will receive assistance from World Bank, will be detailed in 2th 5-year plan The gap between demand and production of milk has put pressure on milk prices, as reflected in food inflation. The project is expected to provide a strong supply response, with a focus on milk production and productivity to stabilise prices.
Milk prices went up by 23 per cent last year. This year the 52-week average milk price shows an increase of 21.5 per cent. But recent weeks have seen only a moderate increase; it was 7 per cent in the week ended March 12.
Though, India ranked No 1 in milk production, the output going up from 17 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 112.5 million tonnes in 2009-10, the per capita consumption of milk is still only 263 gm per day when the world average is 279.4 gm. India has not been able to match demand with supplies. Demand has been growing by about six million tonnes a year, whereas the annual incremental production over the past decade has been 3.5 million tonnes, according to the Economic Survey of 2010-11. Milk production must increase by 5.5 per cent annually in the next 12 years, as otherwise India may have to make costly imports, said the survey.
The National Dairy Plan will lay special emphasis on increasing productivity by adopting professional breeding practices, improving animal nutrition, animal health and vaccination, NDDB chairman Amrita Patel said. Recently, Crisil said milk product exports would amount to 5 per cent of production. "Domestic demand for dairy products would remain strong, and the demand-supply gap is expected to continue to widen over the medium term. This, along with increasing input (fodder and transportation) costs, will push milk prices up over the next three to five years," it said.

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