His Excellency Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Shri
Digambar Kamat, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa,
Shri Pratapsingh Rane, Speaker, Goa Assembly,
Shri Ravi Naik, Minister for Home, Cooperation
and Animal Husbandry, Government of Goa, Dr.
Bhasin, President of IDA, delegates and
friends.
I am happy to be here today, to deliver the
keynote address of the 37th Dairy Industry
Conference and I must commend the Indian Dairy
Association on reaching its 60th anniversary,
which is also the 60th anniversary of our
independence.
These are extraordinary times, economies the
world over are in crisis. India however, is
fortunate in that it is faring somewhat better
than most countries in the world.
Over the past 4 years, the volatility in
international prices of milk powders has been
significant. The price of SMP increased from $
1500 per ton in 2004, reaching an all time
high of about $ 5000 per ton in 2007 and has
dropped to almost $ 1800 in 2009. This has
been impacting on Indian prices of milk powder
as well. As we have seen, although exports
represent a very small fraction of the total
milk produced, it does have a significant
impact on domestic prices of milk and milk
products. For us in India, the rising sale
price of liquid milk should be a matter of
grave concern, as it is impacting seriously on
the food and nutritional security of the
millions of the less affluent in our country.
These developments raise a number of
questions, which I believe our entire industry
needs to address: “How do we sustain the
incentive for continued growth of both milk
producers and milk processors” and most
importantly “How do we balance the interests
of producers and consumers”. Given these
uncertain times, I consider the theme of the
Conference “Dairying for livelihood and
growth” most appropriate, because it
recognizes that the organised sector i.e.,
both the cooperative and private players needs
to ensure, that while we pursue plans for
growth, we must continue to keep milk
producers and their interests, central to our
concerns as the interests of our nation and
the dairy industry, depend on the wellbeing of
the millions of our landless, small and
marginal farmers for whom milk is such a
crucial source of livelihood.
At the same time, we cannot overlook the fact
that the world is eyeing India and China as
their future market. The long term interests
of our milk producers therefore clearly lies
in the domestic market expanding. But while
demand for milk and milk products is steadily
increasing, we must remind ourselves that of
the estimated 193 million households in the
country about 53 million households are still
below the poverty line. These are the food
insecure households with high levels of child
malnutrition and calorie deficient diets.
Though increase in consumer prices represents
gains to processors and producers, increases
in consumer price over short periods as we
have seen recently, can adversely affect
consumption among certain sections of our
society. Even if price increases are necessary
for the industry to remain viable, its impact
on overall demand needs to be constantly kept
in mind. It is the responsibility of the dairy
industry, to ensure that competition for
markets and raw materials, do not result in
prices rising to levels that affect long term
growth as ultimately domestic consumption will
be determined by the purchasing power.
Growth to meet the
rising demand
The Eleventh Five Year Plan has envisaged a
growth of 5-6% per annum for dairying, which
is most ambitious. NDDB’s proposed National
Dairy Plan aims at meeting the demand for milk
by 2021-22, which has been projected at 180
MMT. This implies a 4% growth annually during
the period, but in absolute terms, the
incremental production of 2.5 MMT annually
will have to increase to 5 MMT. Achieving this
growth, on the much higher current production
base, without an increase in numbers of
animals, is possible now only by improving the
genetic potential of our milch animals and by
providing nutritious feed without greater
stress on our scarce land and water resources.
The Plan therefore focuses on enhancing milk
production in major milk producing areas and
substantially expanding the infrastructure for
procurement, processing, marketing and quality
assurance.
A number of interventions require attention in
pursuing our goal of ‘Dairying for livelihood
and growth’. While I have spoken on most of
these at past conferences, I would like to
dwell in more detail today on Breeding,
Feeding, Education and the role of IT.
Increasing Productivity
— building an infrastructure
for supply of quality genetics
To start with, we must remember that milk
production in our country, characterized by
small herd size, fed largely on crop residues
is highly competitive. The latest study of the
International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN),
shows that the cost of milk production in
India is around $25 per 100 kg. of energy
converted milk as against $38 per 100 kg. of
the corresponding average world figure. This
is a fact we should never lose sight of while
striving for increased productivity, as it is
essential that we maintain our competitive
position.
Unfortunately, a national scientifically
planned breeding programme of the size
required for a country like ours has never
been undertaken and is difficult given the
fact that agriculture and livestock is a State
subject. But with the challenge we now face,
we need to have clarity and an acceptance of
the crucial roles of the Central Government,
State Governments, Universities and colleges,
industry players - cooperative and private,
and professional service providers, if we are
to collectively meet the challenge ahead.
Before we talk about breeding strategies and
programmes, we need to be clear that in a
country as vast, with such diverse agro
climatic conditions and farmers with varied
holdings and resources, it is essential for
each State Government to evolve a Breeding
Policy, and importantly ensure that it is
implemented. A State Breeding Policy, needs to
factor in at micro level, the climate and the
resources available with milk producers such
as land, feed, water etc. The Policy needs to
be evolved, through a consultative process of
all the stakeholders and particularly the
farmers themselves. Only then will the chance
of a Breeding Policy being accepted by the
farmers and thus enforceable by the Government
be much higher. NDDB has in fact, just
completed such an exercise for Bihar.
The Breeding Policies for different States,
would need to be translated into the number of
bulls of high genetic merit of different
breeds and breed combinations required, which
in turn will be determined by the number of
semen doses required across the country.
As I have emphasized on earlier occasions, the
production of proven bulls and semen
production should henceforth be assigned to a
few organisations with expertise, who are made
accountable for meeting the country's needs,
and should not be left to every state, unless
of course a State is already running a well
managed facility.
NDDB has initiated five progeny testing
programmes in four states and is partnering
selected organizations with experience. Each
partner is accountable for producing a
specific number of bulls and it is expected
that these programmes would meet at least 50%
of the quality bulls required for semen
production in the country upto 2011-12.
While the population of crossbreds will
continue to grow, given the fact that land is
becoming increasingly scarce, for growing
fodder, combined with the impact of climate
change, in the long term, promoting our own
indigenous breeds appears to be a much safer
and sustainable path. It is time that serious
efforts are made to educate and convince our
farmers, about the longer term gains of owning
good yielders of indigenous breeds over the
shorter term gains from crossbreds. But at the
same time, we must take responsibility for
genetic improvement programmes for selected
indigenous breeds, if we are to ensure that
quality semen of these breeds is available to
farmers to improve yields. NDDB has been
implementing genetic improvement programmes
for Rathi in Rajasthan and Kankrej in Gujarat
and will also be taking up similar programmes
for Tharparkar and Gir cattle and Jaffarabadi
buffaloes.
But the much more difficult task we face, is
the delivery of AI service. Today only about
20% of our breedable animals are artificially
inseminated which needs to rise to 50% by
2021-22. This means that the number of AIs to
be carried out annually, will need to go up
from 40 million AIs today to 135 million AIs
by 2021-22. But more importantly, this AI
service needs to be provided at the farmers
doorstep. Of the 66,000 AI centres operating
today, the State Governments are the largest
providers of AI service, but this is through
45,000 stationary AI centres where animals
have to be brought for AI. It is essential
that State Governments put in place a time
bound programme to convert these stationary
centres to mobile ones within a span of 2-3
years. This is certainly feasible if there is
the will. The AI service henceforth, needs to
be carried out by all the players, whether
Government, cooperative or private, in a much
more professional manner. Starting with
eartagging for identification, a regular
follow up to check on conception, and reducing
the number of AIs per conception from 3-4 AIs
to 1-2 AIs.
Ultimately, we need to aim at registered
professional service providers, who provide a
service that is charged for, which has built
into it accountability to the farmer, one that
guarantees that her animal conceives and
calves regularly and which grows to give a
higher yield. Equally importantly, every
inseminator must be required to collect
certain essential data, which needs to be
captured in a central data base. And this is
possible today with the tools of IT at our
command. Government needs to move out of bull
production, semen production and AI delivery
and assume a Regulatory role. What is needed
is a Central Regulatory Authority and
certification process to ensure that only
proven quality bulls are used by all semen
stations. It is time that semen is treated as
a product similar to a drug and that its
production and sale is regulated to ensure
that only certified semen stations are
permitted to market semen and all other semen
stations are closed until they meet the
required standard. It is time, that the
interests of millions of farmers does not
continue to be subordinated to the demand of a
few hundred employees. Only semen from
certified semen stations should be permitted
to be used by AI service providers. AI
technicians should be required to undergo a
training course, carried out by institutions
registered with the State Government and be
permitted to operate only after they are
registered. Without introducing this
discipline, we are unlikely to see the
substantial investment being proposed in
genetic improvement leading to an increase in
milk production at the pace required.
Encouraging farmers to
breed for sale
State Governments are of late, encouraging the
induction of milch animals through various
schemes and concessional bank funding, which
is contributing to an increase in production
in these areas. The animals are generally
supplied from far off places through traders.
I believe there is a case to encourage and
incentivize the production of milch animals
for sale. We could start by encouraging
farmers to produce animals for sale in tracts
of specific breeds eg., Murrah in Punjab,
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Mehsani in Gujarat,
Hariana for Haryana cattle etc. Farmers should
be eligible for an incentive if they follow
certain practices eg., eartagging their
animal, vaccinating, maintaining a few
essential records so that at the time of the
sale, the parentage and potential milk yield
is known. Simultaneously farmers would need to
be educated about the information they need to
seek before they purchase such animals at
cattle fairs and such transactions would then
be between the buyer and seller. In fact this
could in the future lead to auction markets
being set up at the existing markets.
Feeding
Improved genetics of our milch animals, will
result in animals with a higher feed
conversion efficiency. These animals will have
to be fed adequately so that the benefit of
higher genetic progress actually results in
enhanced milk production. With feed costs
continuing to rise, every effort will need to
be made to improve the nutritive value of the
ingredients already available for feeding and
future R&D must constantly focus on this.
The various technologies already available,
for adding value to feed need to be adopted by
the industry and disseminated on a much wider
scale eg., moving away from feeding ordinary
protein meals to bypass protein, the feeding
of bypass fat just before and after calving,
feeding area specific mineral mixtures, ration
balancing - to name a few. The challenge is
being innovative in reaching these to our
farmers. NDDB has initiated the process of
training trainers who in turn will train
village resource persons in the use of a
software for ration balancing and use of PDAs.
It is time now for Government to seriously
consider, the setting up of a Feed Regulatory
Authority. Plants manufacturing feeds, feed
supplements and mineral mixture should be
registered. It should be made mandatory that
the label on every bag of feed produced
indicates the registration number and critical
information, on the chemical composition of
the feed, type of feed, list of main
ingredients used in the feeds, and actual
level of certain key ingredients such as urea,
salt, calcite powder and mineral mixture. The
Regulatory Authority should also have
facilities for testing feeds, so that samples
sent to them by buyers can be tested. The
Authority should of course, have the power to
impose penalties, which really act as a
deterrent to manufacturers of substandard
feeds.
Quality Assurance
Coming to quality, while I have spoken in
considerable detail about this at earlier
conferences, I need hardly emphasise, the need
for all players in the dairy industry to
ensure that transparency is introduced in the
procurement chain and quality norms are in
place. If this is not given the urgent
attention it deserves, it should be of no
surprise to us if we too are hit by a scandal
of the type that China was reeling under till
quite recently.
Manpower
The biggest challenge in achieving the
ambitious growth target for milk production we
have set ourselves as I see it is manpower -
trained and committed professionals who are
willing to work for and engage with farmers
and farmer institutions.
Our agriculture universities and veterinary
colleges have a very special role to play.
Students today continue to be trained to treat
animals and so they are best equipped for
private practice or to work in Government
hospitals and dispensaries. But what is
needed, are professionals who can also
contribute to livestock production be it large
or small ruminants, pigs or poultry. With
knowledge not just of infectious diseases but
an understanding of epidemiology, of all the
components that contribute to a successful
disease control programme; not just the theory
of genetics and the breeds that exist in our
country but the intricacies and complexities
of planning and carrying out a progeny testing
programme in a country like ours; not just the
requirement of DCP and TDN in the ration of an
animal but the technologies available for
adding value to scarce nutrients; and how this
can be provided by a farmer to her animal at
minimum cost; The curriculum needs to include
aspects of management which enable them to
manage farms and various programmes in the
field. For years now extension in animal
husbandry is virtually confined as a subject
to be taught in our colleges. As future growth
in productivity, is going to be dependent on
taking a range of technologies which are
increasingly animal specific, to our farmers,
our veterinarians must be communicators - with
the ability to convince our farmers of the
benefits of changing age old practices.
Ultimately, it is these professionals who are
our only hope of being the instruments of
change.
Our State Agriculture Universities, Krishi
Vigyan Kendras and numerous local institutions
would also need to gear themselves to train
and motivate the large number of trainers
required to train the thousands of local
resource persons in our villages in their
respective languages to bring about the change
in feeding practices through ration balancing.
And of course, we will also need to train
managers with the commitment to take charge of
the business from procurement to processing
and marketing.
Role of the Organised
Sector
Growth in milk production will require a
substantial increase in milk handling capacity
and marketing. The organized dairy sector
(comprising cooperatives and the private
sector) would need to expand their coverage of
milk producers and villages and grow their
current share of marketable surplus from 30%
to 65% by 2021-22. They would also need to
introduce measures which ensure their
procurement, processing and marketing
operations are efficient and cost effective.
This would eventually mean much larger volumes
of good quality milk to consumers.
Information and
Communication Technology
Ultimately, however well intentioned we may be
and whatever effort we may make to maximize
returns to our farmers, we need to
demonstrate, clearly and with transparency,
the impact of all the interventions we are
making, on their income. And to create this
distinct and unambiguous link between inputs
and output of milk, and make it in a
compelling manner, is now possible for both
cooperative and private players through
technology - information technology, to be
precise.
Information and communication technologies now
give us opportunities to look at growing the
dairy business with much less or virtually no
intermediation. For example, information on
supply of milk by producers that are currently
being managed and maintained in our villages,
can now be managed on a real time basis using
centralised computer databases with
telecommunication facilities. The growth of
internet banking, and efforts of banks to roll
out business correspondents to promote
inclusive banking, is also offering a new way
to make milk payments reach producers
directly. What this means is, that we now have
new ways of linking up with our producers and
facilitating them to transact their business
through methods that they also find more
convenient and efficient. This approach is
already being tried out in a few locations
where initiatives to promote New Generation
Cooperatives are presently underway. Smart
cards, which are photo cards with memory for
biometric identification and storage of data,
have been successfully pilot tested in about
150 villages covering close to 4000 milk
producers and around Rs. 2.5 crore have been
disbursed as payment for milk. This initial
success has given us the confidence to expand
the pilot to about 1000 villages covering
around 50,000 milk producers over the next few
months. We are examining how this smart card
could be used as a debit card to enable the
milk producer pay for technical inputs such as
AI and feed supply. Banks are examining how
the smart card could be used as part of their
KYC (know your customer) requirements to offer
both term and consumption loans and other
financial services. Later on, it is expected
that the same smart card should be able to
serve as a storehouse of other data such as
the identity and profile of each milch animal
owned by the producer, the services provided
and the value of milk supplied so as to enable
the milk producer get a higher income by
managing the animal in a better way. Most of
all the transparency that will get introduced
into a business which involves millions of
producers will provide for far greater
inclusiveness.
Such is the power of technology that exists
today and unless we use these and the new,
even better technologies that are bound to
come up, we would be doing a great disservice
not only to our own efforts, but more
importantly, our farmers.
But I should add that an orderly growth of the
dairy sector will be difficult as long as the
business continues to remain shrouded in
secrecy. As do Governments elsewhere our
Government must require of all members of our
industry - cooperative and private to provide
information related to procurement,
processing, marketing of milk and milk
products and stocks. I do believe that the
industry is now mature enough to appreciate
that this information cannot be considered
proprietary and it is essential to provide it
on a regular basis if our plans for the future
are to be achieved.
Ensuring ecologically
sustainable processes
And finally while we may use the tools of
science and technology to achieve the growth
we have set ourselves, we need to remind
ourselves that in a country where land
holdings are small and farmers practise mixed
farming, it is the soil and the availability
of water that will in the long term determine
production and growth. The milch animals owned
by marginal and small farmers has increased
from 51 million in 1991-92 to 66 million in
2002-03. The dependence of such farmers on
grazing or common lands around their villages
to meet their fodder needs will increase as
the quality of animals improves. There is
enough evidence of these common lands
shrinking as they are being diverted for other
uses and what remains is degraded. State
Governments need to start supporting
Panchayats to work with village communities to
revegetate these lands, and the Uplands in the
adjoining areas which are degraded from
overuse. In the longer term this will also
improve the hydrological regime of the area
making agriculture and dairying more
sustainable. We must recognise the simple
truth that enduring economic progress is only
possible if it rests on a firm and sustainable
foundation of ecological security.
And so to conclude, we have every reason to be
optimistic about the future of the dairy
industry, with every participant -
Governments, Universities, the industry both
cooperative and private, and service providers
recognising the crucial role that each must
perform to achieve the goals we have set. This
alone will ensure livelihoods to millions more
of our small producers.
