India’s milk production is set to rise by nearly 4 per cent year-on-year to 239.3 million tonnes in 2023-24 due to better productivity, despite a 16 per cent year-on-year decline in buffalo milk production, according to government data on Tuesday. The milk production of India, the world’s largest milk producer, stood at 230.58 metric tons in 2022-23. However, data shows that the annual growth rate has slowed in the last two financial years. The growth rate in 2017-18 was 6.62 percent; 6.47 percent in FY19; 5.69 percent in FY20; 5.81 percent in FY 2011; and 5.77 percent in FY22. It came down to 3.83 percent in FY23 and 3.78 percent in FY24.
Addressing an event to celebrate National Milk Day, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh said milk production is set to increase to about 239 metric tonnes in 2023-24 due to improvement in productivity.
The minister released the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2024 on the occasion of National Milk Day, which is observed every year on 26 November in honor of the father of the White Revolution, Verghese Kurien, who was born on this day.
Singh said the per capita availability of milk has also increased from 459 grams per day in 2022-23 to 471 grams per day in 2023-24. The minister said the average growth in India’s milk production in the last 10 years has been 6 percent, while the global average is 2 percent.
According to government data, milk production from buffaloes in 2023-24 has decreased by 16 percent compared to last year. Milk production from exotic/cross-breed cattle has increased by 8 per cent, while production from indigenous/non-descript cattle has increased by 44.76 per cent.
According to an official statement, the total milk production in the country during 2023-24 is estimated to be 239.30 metric tonnes, showing an increase of 5.62 per cent over the last 10 years. Milk production in 2014-15 was 146.3 metric tons. The top five milk producing states during 2023-24 were Uttar Pradesh with a share of 16.21 per cent in the total milk production, followed by Rajasthan (14.51 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (8.91 per cent), Gujarat (7.65 per cent), and Maharashtra (7.65 per cent). (6.71 percent).
In terms of annual growth rate, West Bengal was on top (9.76 per cent) over the previous year, followed by Jharkhand (9.04 per cent), Chhattisgarh (8.62 per cent), and Assam (8.53 per cent).
Earlier, while addressing the event, Singh stressed on the need to bring dairy farmers into the organized sector as this will boost milk production and their income and eliminate middlemen. He suggested the formation of dairy cooperative societies at the village level. The minister also talked about the need to promote exports of dairy products.
Singh asked dairy farmers to get their animals vaccinated. The government is providing free vaccination. He said foot-and-mouth disease and brucellosis would be eliminated from the country by 2030 and “this will help in increasing exports”.
The minister also asked dairy farmers to adopt gender-based semen and artificial insemination on a large scale. Singh said the government is also focusing on breed improvement of livestock.
On whether the pace of growth in milk production has slowed down, Jayen Mehta, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets dairy products under the ‘Amul brand’, told reporters that there was a good increase of 4 percent in annual production. Is. Milk production in the last financial year and the average growth over the last 10 years has been about 6 percent, which is much higher than the world average.
Mehta said production depends on many factors including monsoon rains.
