Giving a big thrust to India's dairy economy, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the government's resolve to double milk processing capacity by 2025.
The Finance Minister stated that the Government looks to facilitate doubling of milk processing capacities from 53.5 million metric tonnes (MT) to 108 MT by 2025. This would help to increase the country's per capita milk availability from the current about 394 grams per day.
It could be noted that India's milk production has grown by more than 10 times since 1950.
The FM's announcement bears significance in the backdrop of India's growing middle-class and urban consumption of dairy products.
The Government data suggests that, the per capita consumption of milk has improved from 4.3 litre per month in urban areas in 1988 to 5.4 litres in 2012, whereas in rural areas, the same improved from 3.2 litres per month to 4.3 litres per month.
Finance Minister's announcement comes as a validation to NITI Aayog's projections of India's milk production to touch 330 million tonnes by 2033.
Elimination of FMD and Brucellosis
The FM also emphasise on government's intent to completely eliminate animal diseases for a better health of the cattle.
"Our Government intents to eliminate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in cattle and also PPR in sheep and goat by 2025. We are confident that it will be completely eliminated by then," Sitharaman stated in her Saturday's Budget Speech in the Parliament.
The Government also looks to increase the coverage of artificial insemination from the present 30 per cent to 70 per cent to create better and high-yielding cattle breeds for increased milk production.
The FM also stated that MNREGA's coverage would be expanded to develop fodder farms as well.