Fourty years after the start of Operation Flood (OF) that turned India into the world’s largest milk producer, the country is set to take another big leap forward.
The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is all set to usher in Indias second White Revolution through National Dairy Plan (NDP) that aims to double the national milk production, reports The Times of India Friday.
With an outlay almost 10 times more than OF, NDP like OF will be implemented by NDDB as a multi-state initiative in phases with assistance largely from World Bank. Spread over a span of 26 years, OF was initiated by Father of White Revolution Dr Verghese Kurien as the ‘billion-litre idea’ in July 1970.
– Though India’s milk production is growing at an impressive 4 per cent, which is double the pace of world’s milk production, the average annual incremental production is 2,5 million tonnes, which has to increase to five million tonnes to meet the projected demand of 180 million tonnes by 2020-21. NDP is proposed to increase country’s milk production from current 108 million tonnes to meet this projected demand, said NDDB chairman Amrita Patel on Thursday, adding that NDP’s first phase will continue till March 2017.
The department of animal husbandry and dairying has completed a series of high-level consultations with 14 major dairying states, which currently account for over 90 per cent of India’s milk production, on initiatives to launch a scientifically planned programme to increase bovine productivity and milk production.
A soft loan, repayable over 35 years, is being proposed for funding various activities.
