Recently the Ministry of Cooperation has started ‘Dairy Cooperative Scheme’ (Dairy Sahakar Scheme).
It aims to realize the idea of ’cooperation for prosperity’ and also, to support the existing efforts to strengthen the dairy sector in India under the overall objectives of ‘Doubling Farmers’ Income’ and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The dairy sector, with 198.4 million metric tonnes of milk production (highest in the world) in the year 2019-20, contributes around 4% to the Indian GDP.
About the Dairy Sahakar Scheme:
- The Dairy Cooperative Scheme will be implemented by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) under the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India with an investment of Rs 5000 crore.
- NCDC will provide financial assistance to eligible cooperatives for activities like bovine development, milk procurement, processing, quality assurance, value addition etc.
- There will also be convergence of this scheme with various schemes of Government of India and/or State Government/UT Administration/Development Agencies/Bilateral/Multilateral Assistance/Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Other important initiatives for the dairy sector:
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
- National Dairy Development Program (NPDD)
- Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)
- National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM)
Problems related to the dairy sector:
- Highly Unorganized: About 60% of the surplus milk is controlled by the unorganized sector (the milkmen).
- Low Productivity: Average milk production from cows in India is much lower than that of American cows. (compared to 10,000 kg of milk per cow (USA), 1,248 kg of milk per year (India) per year).
- Other issues: Lack of technology, high wastage and inadequate quality and quantity of milk etc.
Source – The Hindu
