Keynote Address

I am happy to be here to deliver the key note address at this 39th Dairy Industry Conference. 

I am happier still that the theme of this year’s Conference is around ‘sustainability’.  I would hope however that we, and by we I mean all the players of the dairy industry of our country, are really serious about approaching the future growth of our industry in a responsible and sustainable manner.  Pursuing a sustainable model would mean that henceforth we have to be guided by three overriding aspects – environment, economic and social.

Hitherto our focus has been on reaching out to more and more producers and ensuring them a livelihood through regular payment for their milk.  The increasing incomes over time provided the incentive to our farmers to feed their animals better, add an animal or two to their holding – all of which contributed to an increase in milk production.  The increase in production over the years at around 4% annually is nearly double that of increase in world milk production, but importantly this growth has been able to meet demand.

The scene over the last few years however is changing.  The rising GDP growth rate and the various Government welfare programmes are leading to increasing purchasing power, both rural and urban, leading to a shift from consumption of cereals to vegetables, milk and meat.  The dairy industry is seeing a visible and very rapid  increase in demand for milk.  At the same time, farmers are struggling to cope with higher feed and other costs and asking for a higher price to meet the increased cost of production.    

We rightly continue to take great pride in being the world’s largest producer of milk.  However, as we move forward, it is necessary that we now address the factors that need to be introduced into planning for our future growth strategy given the very large population of bovines that we have both productive and unproductive, to ensure that this future growth is sustainable.  For a country like India, dairying is not just production of milk and milk products. Our milk producers are small land holders or even landless and dairying for them is a means of generating a regular income throughout the year.  The questions that must remain central and that we must continue to address are – How do we progress and grow in a sustainable manner and yet ensure livelihoods for many more millions of milk producers?  How do we ensure that milk producers remain central to all that we plan for the future development of the dairy industry?

In my view, therefore, the path to sustainability requires us to address all the steps that need to be taken to reduce the carbon footprint at every stage in the path from milk production to processing upto marketing.  

I would like to start by touching upon a few of these, particularly water and those related to milk production, as it is the dairy animal and milk production that contributes the maximum to the carbon footprint.   

Starting with water – with the ambitious plan we have for increasing milk production, we need to bear in mind that over the years, as in so many other parts of the world, water could become a limiting factor for growth.  In addition to the obvious need for judicious use of water and reducing wastage, there is a need to be proactive and put in place appropriate water conservation measures.  We need to facilitate the evolution of village community based protection measures in areas where milk is being procured, such as revegetation of degraded grazing lands around villages and the surrounding uplands, which will over time contribute to both fodder and more importantly improve the hydrological regime.  Harvesting of rain water also offers substantial returns in the form of replenishment and augmentation of water resources.

Today our farmers generally feed their animals a mix of a few ingredients that are readily available to them in their villages.  This results in overfeeding or underfeeding.  The limited availability of feed resources will now require that animals are fed a balanced ration.    There is already evidence in the field that just balancing the ration of our milch animals based on their real nutritional requirement can increase the milk production of existing animals by about 15%.  Further, technologies such as urea molasses block, bypass protein, bypass fat, area specific mineral mixtures etc., can no longer be confined to our research institutes and laboratories.  They need to be taken to our villages and to every farmer in the village.  Today about 15 million tonnes of protein meal is available for feeding ruminants, poultry and aqua while the demand is about 30 million tonnes.  It is essential that this protein meal is converted to bypass protein on a much larger scale so that the scarce resource can be used more efficiently by ruminants. 

With competing claims on biomass for energy, the cost of dry fodder for feed is rising and will continue to rise.  Since dry fodder constitutes the major portion of the animal’s ration, it becomes all the more important to take steps to secure all the straw that is hitherto being wasted or burned in the fields. The falling availability of farm labour which is leading to the use of combine harvesters in major grain producing states is resulting in an increase in the on-farm loss of crop residues. It is now possible to introduce improved harvesters to secure the straw otherwise left in the field and burnt.  Thereafter the straw can be  enriched and processed into blocks or pellets  adding value to this growing scarce feed resource.

We also need to make available adequate quantity of certified seeds of improved varieties of fodder, so that farmers who are already cultivating fodder can harvest higher  yields of green fodder from the same land and ensile what cannot be consumed as green fodder for feeding in the remaining months of the year.

And finally, the feed conversion efficiency of our milch animals will have to be improved.  This can be achieved by improving the genetic potential for milk production.  But what does this actually mean?  Henceforth, the semen used for AIs should be only from high genetic merit bulls.  This in turn requires well managed and executed progeny testing programmes to be put in place by organisations with the required expertise so that there is an assured supply of quality bulls of different breeds for semen production stations across the country.

Selected breeds of indigenous animals should also be upgraded through breed improvement programmes as these have the inherent ability to utilize locally available feeds more efficiently apart from the fact that they are likely to cope better with impact of climate change.

Better feeding and management of calves will lead to milch animals reaching maturity and conception earlier thus advancing the lactation period.

We need to increase the proportion of in-milch animals in the total breedable population.  Today only about 20% of our breedable animals are bred through AI.  This coverage needs to be increased substantially if the percentage of dry animals is to be progressively reduced.  But more importantly the AI service must be provided at the farmers doorstep.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of India is presently in the process of introducing a regulation for the production of high genetic merit bulls, the production of quality semen following a standard protocol and AI delivery.  When introduced and enforced this will go a long way in supporting the interventions I have spoken about. 

In this context I would like to take up the issue of breeding a higher percentage of our breedable animals through AI.  If we wish to achieve a target of breeding 50% breedable animals through AI, the number of AIs to be carried out will need to increase from the current level of 45 million AIs per annum to a projected level of 95 million AIs by 2016-17 and 135 million AIs by 2021-22.  But more importantly, as I said earlier, this AI service needs to be provided at the farmer’s doorstep.

Today the State Governments are the largest AI service providers.  There is an urgent need however for them to convert their largely stationary AI service to a mobile one delivered at the farmers doorstep.  But to achieve the increase in the number of AIs, will require many many more AI service providers.  It is hoped that to encourage the entry of more service providers, the State Governments will start charging for the AI service on a cost basis while continuing to provide a subsidy to farmers who are below the poverty line.  It is essential that the charge to the farmer for AI is rationalized, taking into consideration the actual cost of delivering an AI service, or else we are unlikely to see more service providers entering the business and the coverage of milch animals required will not be achieved.  Unless this shift is brought about, the growth in milk production will just not take place.

While the cooperatives and a few private players are providing some input services to farmers supplying them milk, what needs to be recognised is that if increase in productivity is to be achieved at the pace and scale required to meet demand which is estimated to be an increase in incremental production from 3 million tons annually to 6 million tons (and this will require to be done largely in the areas where there is a potential to do so, to start with), large scale extension programmes will need to be put in place to educate the millions of dairy farmers on the need to provide their animals a balanced ration, improved feeding practices and that they must demand an efficient AI service with quality semen from only registered semen stations which have been graded A or B and that a veterinarian is available on call.  This in my view is a responsibility that every processor both cooperative and private must now shoulder and for which adequate funds will have to be provided.  The business of milk cannot continue to be restricted to just buying and selling milk.  The milk producer who is the key stakeholder in the business, who has the least resources at her command and who is investing in her animals needs to be provided all the support possible in terms of education and services to get the maximum out of her investment.  This alone will ensure that adequate milk is produced to meet the rapidly growing demand.

A demand needs to be created for professional service providers to provide an advisory service for ration balancing and an efficient AI service which henceforth will require the AI technician to not just perform an AI but to tag the animal for identification, ensure that a PD is done, and advise on feeding.  And finally all the service providers need to feed in to the information system that NDDB has put in place using mobile computing technologies.  This system will enable the collection of data on reproduction, production, nutrition and health care on an individual animal basis.  Such information can be passed on to farmers and service providers to enable them to improve the quality of the service they provide.  Ultimately, we need to aim at a service which is charged for and one that guarantees that the animal conceives and calves regularly and grows to give a higher yield.  This requires all service providers whether Government or private to commit to a common protocol for delivery of the service and regular reporting. 

The measures I have spoken about, which will take us on the path to  sustainability in milk production, are in fact all incorporated in the National Dairy Plan and can be considered to be a scientific approach to increasing productivity.  The National Dairy Plan which is expected to lead the second milk revolution in our country and spans a 15 year period with the first phase covering 6 years, envisages major interventions in two areas

-      Increasing productivity i.e., doubling milk production over a span of 15 years through genetic improvement of our milch animals – which includes the production of 550 high genetic merit bulls annually by 2016-17 and 1100 bulls by 2021-22.  These bulls would have to be produced through progeny testing programmes.  A & B grade semen stations should be upgraded and expanded to produce an estimated 100 million semen doses by 2016-17 and 140 million semen doses by 2021-22 required to increase the  AIs carried out annually at the farmers doorstep from 45 million today to a projected level of 95 million by 2016-17 and 135 million by 2021-22.

Ultimately, to realize the improved genetic potential in terms of increased yields, technologies for more efficient use of feeds and ration balancing will have to reach a projected level of  3 million animals in 50,000 villages in 2016-17 and 5 million animals in 90,000 villages by 2021-22.

-      The organised sector, both cooperative and private sectors is projected to increase their share of the marketable surplus from 30% to 60%, to ensure food safety and provide a direct link to milk producers and through that a remunerative price and technical inputs.  This will mean that the organised sector will need to increase their  procurement to a projected level of about 160 million kg. milk by 2021-22 from the current level of about 46 million kg. milk, necessitating both expansion of existing as well as creation of new processing facilities. 

The first phase of the National Dairy Plan which focuses on increasing productivity with an outlay of Rs.1584 crores is expected to be launched later this year.  The additional outlay for processing and marketing is in the process of being finalized.

The contribution of our dairy animals to greenhouse gases cannot be overlooked anymore. World over, measures to mitigate GHG emissions during milk production are being aggressively pursued by progressive dairy industries. The common measures include scientific feeding strategies to reduce methane emission by the animal and use of anaerobic digesters to trap and utilize methane from the on-farm waste.

In the Indian context, the combination of a breeding programme, which leads to animals with a higher feed conversion efficiency, and  feeding a balanced ration is the only solution to lower methane emissions. Though not a significant contributor to GHGs, there is scope for reducing methane  emissions from dung, at least in relatively large holdings.

Today the estimates of GHG emissions generated by different sectors, including agriculture and livestock,  made by  the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) are largely based on theoretical calculations and some assumptions.  Considering the importance of dairying to millions of households, it is important that efforts are made to arrive at more accurate values based on actual measurements under field conditions.

Studies undertaken by NDDB under field conditions have demonstrated that it is possible to reduce methane emissions by 12-15% by feeding animals a balanced ration. I am happy to learn that  the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has also initiated a  ‘Network Programme on Estimation of Methane Emissions under Different Feeding Systems and Development of Mitigation Strategies’.   This should provide the basis for introducing appropriate feeding regimes in the future given the diversity of agro climatic regions in the country.

I do believe that all processors in the organized sector, cooperative and private also need to initiate the exercise of estimating and putting in place steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Special attention needs to be given to energy use resulting in carbon emissions, use of water, packaging practices and waste/effluent management.

Use of water in milk processing should be an area of concern, as dairies require large quantities of water. Pursuing sustainable growth would require judicious use of water in milk processing, by adopting practices such as use of recycled water after nutrient removal, a practice that is already in place in dairies in developed countries.

The recently published International Dairy Federation (IDF) Bulletin titled “A common carbon footprint approach for dairy : The IDF guide to standard lifecycle assessment methodology for the dairy sector” can serve as a useful reference standard for undertaking GHG assessment.

I believe that the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) could also play an important role in sensitizing its members on this important issue and encourage them to initiate action to estimate their GHG emissions and thereafter put in place steps and targets to reduce these.

Education and research institutions like NDRI should include this subject in their teaching and research programmes in order to develop the necessary expertise in the country in this relatively new subject as this will be a useful support to the industry.

Before I conclude, I would like to touch on a couple of issues which I believe are important.

Without accurate and timely data on milk production, crop conditions, export and import, procurement and processing by the organised sector, it is difficult to take decisions with confidence. 

Information available with the government continues to be incomplete and organisations continue to treat information related to their businesses as proprietary.  The government simply must require all members of our industry – cooperative and private to provide the required information on a regular basis.

Dairying provides and will continue to provide a livelihood to millions of our small and marginal farmers.  However, we do need to be mindful of the fact that in a number of states we are seeing farmers moving away from keeping animals.  We also see the younger generation in many milk producer households wanting to avoid the drudgery of managing a couple of cows or buffaloes that have to be cared for every day of the year.  So we do need to ask ourselves is dairying ceasing to be a remunerative business for some farmers?  And if so what steps do we need to be take?

At the same time, we see another development taking place and that is that farmers with land to grow fodder are increasing their animal holdings to 5, 10, 20 cows or buffaloes at one end to 100-200 animals at the other.  It is time that these approaches are studied in order to understand better the conditions contributing to their success so that they can be recommended for replication in other areas. 

I am sure most of those present here are not very popular among their urban friends in metros because of the increase in the consumer price of milk over the last couple of years.  According to the data received by the NDDB from the cooperatives, the average increase of consumer sale price for the last few years is around 9 to 10% per annum.  The figures being quoted in the media however do not reflect the annual price increase.  Further, it needs to be noted that most of the increase in consumer price has gone back to the producers to compensate for the increased cost of milk production.

These days, regretfully, what does not seem to be understood by so many is that the price of inputs that go into producing milk, particularly feed is also rising.  While every effort must be made to increase the rate of growth of milk production so that we can slow down the increase in consumer price, producers are unlikely to remain in the business of milk and produce the milk that is needed to meet the rapidly growing demand unless they are paid a higher and more remunerative price for their milk.

So ultimately the path to sustainability in our context is taking the improved technologies and services, I have talked about, to the farmer at her doorstep.  It is the adoption of these by farmers on a much larger scale across the country that is going to make the real difference.  While all the interventions I have spoken about are achievable, it is the extension education and delivery of services to the farmer at her doorstep that will be the real challenge.

To conclude, the interests of the nation and the dairy industry depend on the welfare of our milk producers and our policies and actions must ensure that they benefit and are able to build a better life.  The path to a sustainable approach for future growth is in the hands of State Departments of Animal Husbandry, Universities, Research Institutes, NDDB, cooperatives and private processors.  Unless we collectively provide our milk producers the support they need to adopt the scientific approach that is now essential for sustainable growth, we will be failing those that have over the years led the country to becoming the world’s largest milk producer.