Anand: Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India inaugurated the National Workshop on Role of Technology in Doubling Income of Farmers through dairying organised by NDDB at NDDB’s TK Patel Auditorium, Anand.

Over 600 progressive dairy farmers of the country from milk unions and producer companies from 16 states attended the event. Apart from orientation sessions on dairy farm management, preventive & curative animal health care, technological advancements in animal breeding, role of technology in governance of cooperatives, efficient manure management and alternate energy resources to enhance income farmers by experts, demonstrations of different technologies through an exhibition was also arranged to provide practical exposure to dairy farmers. Select women dairy farmers shared their experiences in biogas technology, IT in milk procurement, animal nutrition and breeding.

Shri Radha Mohan Singh unveiled NDDB’s Quality Mark logo for cattle feed. The presence of ‘Quality Mark’ on the bags of cattle feed/mineral mixtures conveys that the manufacturer has adopted and implemented Standard Operating Procedures. Quality feeds with required amount of minerals and vitamins help improving reproductive efficiency of dairy animals. He also launched a TV Commercial on NDDB’s Quality Mark logo depicting benefits of feeding cattle feed with quality mark. Shri Parshottam Rupala launched another TV Commercial – Piyo Doodh developed by NDDB for promoting consumption of milk & milk products.

NDDB supports dairy cooperatives in product diversification by providing product, process and packaging technologies for commercial manufacturing of dairy products to meet their growing demand thus adding to the income of the farmers. In this connection, he also released a brochure on NDDB’s Product & Process Technologies.

During the programme, dairy cooperatives that have been efficiently using E-Market platform of National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI) for the maximum benefit of dairy farmers were also awarded by the Union Agriculture Minister.

While addressing the farmers, Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that role of technology has been crucial in development of dairying as viable livelihood for the farmers. In line with Govt of India’s aim of doubling farmers’ income, NDDB is promoting technology-driven income generating activities for the dairy farmers. Motivating and involving dairy farmers in multiple streams of income through diverse alternative (dairy based, agriculture or allied) activities targeted at their livelihood diversification is important for building their economic resilience and welfare.

The Union Agriculture Minister said that dairying is a very important developmental intervention in rural India for achieving agricultural growth with equity. Keeping in view the target set by the Prime Minister for doubling farmer income, the Government of India has unveiled a seven point strategy to achieve this which includes i) increasing productivity ii) effective use of inputs iii) reduction of post-harvest losses iv) value addition v) reforms in marketing vi) reduction in risks, and vii) promotion of allied activities such as dairy, beekeeping etc. Many of these issues are already being addressed under various on-going programmes such as National Dairy Plan – Phase I (NDP I) and Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) that are being implemented by Dairy Board.

Shri Rupala said that technological innovations should reach people at the grassroots. As a large portion of our rural population is young, we need to propagate modern dairying and livestock management practices which are technology driven and are efficient. Few of the segments of our dairy sector which require focused interventions include, improvements in animal productivity through interventions in breeding, nutrition and animal health and market access to milk producers.

The Hon’ble Ministers of Gujarat also shared their valuable views on the role of technology in dairy cooperatives. They advised dairy cooperatives to create new opportunities in rural areas.

In his address, Chairman, NDDB highlighted NDDB’s new technology based initiatives focussed on providing additional income to the dairy farmers. He said that NDDB has developed a genotyping chip named INDUSCHIP for Genomic Selection of indigenous cattle breeds.

Improvement of indigenous breeds is also possible through In-vitro Embryo Production technique. To make manure management a source of additional income, NDDB is promoting use of flexi biogas plants by the dairy farmers. Another major initiative of NDDB is creation of Solar Pump Irrigators Cooperative Enterprise i.e. SPICE through which the Solar Pump owners will be able to sell the surplus power they generate.

He further conveyed that Village level Dairy Cooperative Societies taking up silage production and marketing activities on commercial basis is another initiative which has been successfully experimented. Silage technology for storage of green fodder and crop residues has huge potential. If prepared in small bags, about 25-50 kg each, using low cost choppers, mowers, bagger balers and wrappers, it can easily be traded within the village or milk shed.

Shri Rath conveyed that popularisation of Ethno Veterinary Medicine techniques can provide milk producers considerable saving in animal treatment costs, which can also be an indirect source of income for farmers. NDDB’s Automatic Milk Collection System (AMCS) software has introduced digital innovation in strengthening cooperative business. This integrated software ensures transparency and meets the entire operational requirements at the DCS level. AMCS enables milk bill payment directly to farmers’ bank accounts.