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Dairy Sector

International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit: South Korea
India: world’s largest milk producer
India: is emerging as a major exporter
RS Sodhi managing director of AMUL represented India in this summit.
“India’s decadal milk production growth, pegged at 4.8% CAGR, is twice that of global milk production, which is growing at 1.8% CAGR. In the past five years, this has improved even more to 5.4% CAGR.”
2017: world milk production stood at 849 MMT (million metric tonnes) or 232 crore litres per day, India: 174 MMT (almost 20%)ü US: 97.7 MMTü
India’s milk production is expected to outperform global production and grow to 185 MMT per annum, and surpass the EU to emerge as the largest dairy producer by 2020.
Milk is the largest crop in India in terms of value.
Rs 6.5 lakh crore, which is more than the total value of paddy and wheat put together.
Contributing around 26% to total agriculture GDP
He adds that, over the next five years, “while the projected net additional volume that will be generated by all dairy-producing countries will be around 25 MMT per annum, India will add 32 MMT additional volume annually.”
Nearly all neighbouring countries from Nepal to Bangladesh to Pakistan and even China facing the spectre of milk deficiency, India is poised to reap huge dividends with increasing milk production, enabling it to emerge as a large milk exporter in the not-too-distant future.
We are also investing considerably in creating value-added products more in sync with the requirements of developed countries, which will contribute significantly to our export earnings,” Sodhi says.
What is more significant, however, is the fact that the dairy industry is expected to overtake the information technology sector as the largest employment generator.
Over the next decade, the sector is expected to generate 2 crore jobs annually, asserts Sodhi.
IT sector is largely an urban employment generator, dairy will provide employment in rural areas.
Ballpark calculations indicate 11,000 people are gainfully employed in procurement, processing and packaging of 1 lakh litres of milk.
6 crore rural households in India depend on dairying for livelihood and income, more than 70% of which are small and marginal farmers and landless families.
Domestic consumption is on the rise.
Resons: improving affordability, changing eating habits thanks to increasing health and quality consciousness, and an increase in consumption of value-added products with per-capita milk availability pegged at 370-gm per person, per day—way ahead of the world per-capita milk availability of around 260-gm per person, per day.
Not surprisingly, profit margins in the milk business are currently mouthwatering.
Focus on value-added products such as cheese, yoghurt, probiotic drinks, etc.
Looking forward, the market is expected to reach a value of Rs 18,599 billion by 2023, exhibiting a CAGR of 15% during 2018-23.
A recent CRISIL report predicts a 50% faster growth in the value-added products sector in the coming years, and suggests that such products would clock 14-15% annual growth over the next three fiscal years.
It concludes that value-added product revenues will continue to benefit from rising urbanisation.
The government, too, has introduced various schemes and initiatives aimed at the development of the dairy sector.
The National Dairy Plan (Phase I) aims to improve cattle productivity and increase the production of milk, expand rural milk procurement infrastructure, and provide greater market access to farmers.
Sodhi feels a lot more can be done to improve the viability of the sector. “We need more policies to motivate and incentivise farmers who are getting a really raw deal.
The glut in the milk sector is a bane for them, with procurement prices becoming increasingly non-remunerative for them.
Further, the state and central governments need to increase budgetary allocations for the animal husbandry sector to increase milk yield,” he says.

Time-travelling, on the corridor to Kartarpur shrine

The history of Sikhism and Punjab is closely tied to the gurdwara which houses a rare, original copy of the holy Granth Sahib

Guru Nanak spent the last 18 years of his life at Kartarpur before his demise in 1539.
The present gurdwara was rebuilt in 1925 at a slight distance from the original after it was damaged by floods on two occasions.
Mr. Aijazuddin, the shrine is the repository of one of the last copies of the original Guru Granth Sahib, which was first described in detail in 1860, three centuries after Guru Nanak died.
Caving in A powerful 7.0-magnitude quake jolted southern Alaska in the U.S. on Friday, buckling roads in and around Anchorage, the State’s largest city, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

Ex-President George H.W. Bush dead

- Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who guided America through the end of the Cold War and launched the international campaign to drive Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait, died on Friday at his home in Houston.
- He was 94.
- Tributes quickly poured in for the 41st U.S. President — a decorated World War II pilot, skilled diplomat and one-time CIA chief, who also saw his son George W. Bush follow in his footsteps to the Oval Office.
- His passing comes months after the death in April of his wife Barbara to whom he was married for 73 years.

CBI names Hooda in land case charge sheet

The CBI on Saturday filed a chargesheet against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others in connection with the alleged irregularities in the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of The National Herald newspaper.

Modi, Xi upbeat on relations post-Wuhan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that there had been a “perceptible improvement” in bilateral ties after their Wuhan summit and both sides are optimistic that 2019 would be an even better year for India-China relations.
During their fourth meeting this year on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi on Friday discussed joint efforts to further enhance mutual trust and friendship.
“Had a wonderful meeting with President Xi Jinping,” Mr. Modi tweeted and said the talks revolved around a wide range of bilateral and global subjects.
A statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing said Mr. Xi told Mr. Modi that many important consensus points on the development of China-India relations were being implemented and the relations were are steadily improving.

Important News

Ramaphosa to be Republic Day guest
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
India, U.S. to review defence deals
Defence Minister to also discuss sanctions waiver during six-day visit
Discussion are in an advanced stage for the purchase of 24 MH-60R multi-role helicopters for the Indian Navy through the Foreign Military Sales route and also Predator armed drones for which the U.S. has already given in-principle approval.
India would also like to get some clarity on the waiver for sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
India has signed or approved several big-ticket defence deals with Russia recently including a $5.43-bn deal for S-400 long-range air-defence systems.
‘No possibility of Rohingya returning soon’
Tiger numbers on the rise
At a time when tiger deaths dominate national news, a new study offers hope for wild tiger populations across countries by showing that under optimal conditions, tiger numbers can triple in 18 sites across the world, including eight in India.
These are Anamalai-Vazhachal (in Tamil Nadu-Kerala), Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu), Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh), Achanakmar (Chattisgarh), western Rajaji and Nandhaur (Uttarakhand), Manas (across Assam-Bhutan) and Valmiki (across Bihar-Nepal).
Currently, these regions support an estimated 62 tigers which could rise to 287 over the next 30-50 years: an increase of more than four times in India alone.
The study, published in PLOS ONE, was conducted by 49 conservationists of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) across 10 tiger-range countries.