The Creamy Revolution: Dairy Farming in India

 T he evolution of the dairy sector in India and the stellar role played by dairy cooperatives since the launch of Operation Flood form an integral part of the country’s remarkable growth story after Independence. Today,  India is the largest producer of milk in the world , contributing  23% of global milk production .   During the 1950s and 1960s, the situation was radically different. India was a milk-deficit nation dependent on imports,  and the annual production growth was negative for several years. The annual compound growth rate in milk production during the first decade after independence was  1.64%, which declined to 1.15% during the 1960s . In 1950-51, per capita consumption of milk in the country was only  124 grams per day. By 1970, this figure had dropped to 107 grams per day , one of the lowest in the world and well below the minimum recommended nutritional standards. India’s dairy industry was struggling to survive. The country prod...

 A breed is a sufficiently large group of animals evolved by human efforts through the principles of breeding over the past several centuries. The controlled rearing of domestic animals to improve their desirable qualities is called animal breeding. Some of the major techniques of animal breeding are selective breeding and crossbreeding. The members of a breed have a common ancestry and possess similar physiological and economic characteristics that are inherited in that breed. In India, a number of indigenous (desi) cattle breeds as well as crossbred cattle are engaged in milk production (Table 1.1). Crossbred cattle are developed by crossing the indigenous (Bos indicus) and exotic cattle (Bos taurus) breeds. Exotic dairy cattle breeds originated in different climatic conditions and have higher milk production potential, but these breeds are not well adapted to the Indian climatic conditions. In India, large percentage of cattle population is mainly reared for milk and draught/dra...

 Importance of dairy farming Milk is a wholesome food among all the animal products. It contains in proper proportions the various essential food ingredients required by human body in an easily digestible form. Inclusion of milk in the human diet increases the digestibility of other types of food as well. The productivity of milk varies in different countries, as some countries are surplus in production, some are deficit in production, and in some of the countries, availability matches their requirement. The annual milk production in India in 2015–16 was 155.5 million tonnes and the per capita availability of milk was 337 grams per day. In India, milk is produced by a vast number of small, medium and large-sized farms. There is exponential growth in the number of the commercial dairy farms in the urban and semi-urban areas of the metros and big cities. It is clear from Fig.1.1 that 49 per cent of milk production comes from buffaloes, followed by 27 per cent, 21 per cent and 3 per c...

Dairy farming has been an important part of the agricultural scenario for thousands of years. India being a predominantly agrarian economy has about 70 per cent of its population living in villages, where livestock play a crucial role in the socio-economic life. Livestock provide high-quality foods such as milk, cheese, butter, ghee, etc. India is not only one of the top producers of milk in the world, but also the largest consumer of milk and milk products in the world. Due to the shortfall in supply, we have to import significant amounts of milk products to meet internal demand. Agriculture and animal husbandry have a symbiotic relationship, in which the agricultural sector provides feed and fodder for the livestock and animals provide milk, manure and draught power for various agricultural operations. Dairy sector is instrumental in bringing socio-economic transformation in India. It has created a lot of employment opportunities and also provides improved nutritional benefits. Anim...