Milma chairman bats for sustainable practices in dairy sector, scaling up exports at Paris meet

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KS Mani, Chairman, Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, popularly known as Milma, has emphasised the need for adopting sustainable practices in the dairy sector to turn the challenges into opportunities. Speaking at the just concluded World Dairy Summit in Paris, he said that India’s dairy sector promised vast export potential, especially for value added products.

Highlighting the cooperative model that immensely contributed to India’s rise as the world’s largest milk producer, he said the country’s vast domestic market and export potential offer immense opportunities for further growth despite some challenges being faced from climate change.

Mani was the sole representative of Indian dairy farmers at the summit organised by International Dairy Federation.

Mani, who is also Director of National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI), said export of value-added dairy products needs to be ramped up by tapping into the government programmes like the Dairy processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) and reaching out to new markets like Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

National Dairy Development Board Chairman Meenesh C Shah was among those who represented India at the summit which assumed a strategic significance considering critical challenges faced by the dairy sector world over including climate change, rising raw material costs and depletion of natural resources.

Labour shortages and technology solutions; Climate Change and Sustainability and Opportunities and Challenges in the dairy sector, were among the core themes of conversations at the meet.

With a livestock population of 536.76 million animals, India’s milk output now stands at 231 million tonnes a year, accounting for 24-25 per cent of global production. India’s per capita milk availability of 459 grams per day exceeds the world average of 322 grams a day, highlighting the efficiency of the small-holder driven dairy system.

With 28 State Milk Federations and 240 district cooperative unions, the cooperative model in India’s dairy sector ensures that small farmers receive fair prices for their milk, eliminating exploitation and empowering sustainable growth. This approach has resulted in a 6 per cent annual growth in milk production over the past decade, significantly surpassing the global rate of around 2 per cent.