Milk production is estimated to have increased by 6 percent to about 140 million tonnes in 2013-14 fiscal helped by normal monsoon and increase in demand for dairy products, according to PTI reports.
The milk production in India, the world’s largest producer and consumer, stood at 132.4 million tonnes 2012-13, as per National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) data.
“Milk output during the year 2013-14 is estimated at 140 million tonnes,” an NDDB official said.
Among states, Uttar Pradesh continued to remain the leading milk producer, followed by Rajasthan and Gujarat. Whereas, the per capita demand was maximum in Punjab followed by Haryana in 2013-14, the official added.
“In last few years, there has been continuous increase in milk production in the country as demand for dairy products has risen substantially,” National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) Director A K Srivastava said.
He noted that out of total milk produced in the country about 70 per cent is used in its raw form while rest is processed into dairy products.
“Maximum milk is processed into curd followed by ghee and milk powder,” he said.
With rising income, Srivastava said the demand for new and diversified dairy products like mozzarella cheese is rising and hence private investment in the sector has also gone up.
Recently, all major milk producers including Mother Dairy and Amul have raised milk prices by Rs 2 per litre across all variants due to increase in procurement costs.
NDDB is running a programme ‘National Dairy Plan’ to increase milk production for meeting the growing demand which is estimated to rise by 180 million tonnes by 2021-22.
The phase-1 of the plan was launched in 2012 at Anand in Gujarat. It involves total investment of Rs 2,242 crore and aims at increasing milk production by increasing productivity of milch animals. World Bank is also financing this plan.
