Infinite prospects for Indian dairy entrepreneurs, says Radha Mohan Singh

The Agriculture ministry on Sunday claimed milk production recorded an annual growth of 6 per cent during 2014-18 as against 4.29 per cent during 2010-14. The ministry also stated that milk production has increased by 28.06 per cent from 137.7 million tonne in 2013-14 to 176.35 million tonne in 2017-18.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Radha Mohan Singh said that innumerable prospects for Indian dairy entrepreneurs are emerging in the global market and that the embryo transfer technology has proved to be "extremely effective for increasing production and improve breed."

Singh credited livestock farmers and the various schemes of the government for India becoming the world's largest milk producer.

He further added that 20 Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) centres are being established in the country and proposals for 19 centres have been approved so far. These centres are producing 3,000 high, genetically meritorious bulls of indigenous bovine breeds.

The minister said that agriculture and dairy business complement each other for the social and economic upliftment of cattle farmers.

"To achieve this objective, it is essential to have good quality livestock breed in order to increase production. Under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM), 10 semen centres have been identified for the production of Sex Sorted Semen for the production of more female animals," the minister said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Animal Health Fair organised at Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Piparkothi in Bihar.

He further stated that proposals for two centres, in Uttarakhand and Maharashtra, have been approved and the foundation stone of a Sex Sorted Semen centre in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand was laid in June 2018.