New Delhi, June, 2023.

Lakhs of dairy farmers and their families committed themselves towards making India the ‘Dairy of the World’ on the occasion of World Milk Day saying that the only way forward to alleviate rural India from the poverty and bring about socio economic change is by working towards establishing the country as the global leader in the dairy sector.

On the occasion, the dairy farmers members of 22 Milk Producer Companies (Farmer Producer Organizations which embodies principles that are similar to Cooperatives) came together and committed themselves to: ‘Make India Dairy of the World by increasing India’s share to the total world production’; ‘Provide quality milk and milk products to consumers by sourcing milk even from the remotest part of the country’; ‘Provide a competitive price to farmer members through a fair and transparent process of milk collection and making payments in their respective bank accounts’ and ‘Increase milk productivity through breed improvement programs and better animal management practices’.

Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and its subsidiary NDDB Dairy Services, which is at the forefront of driving India’s efforts towards apex global position in milk production, said, ‘The world dairying community only months’ back paid rich tributes to rural India and dairy farmers at the World Dairy Summit 2022. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has envisioned that India should become the dairy for the world. We are part of this proud community of milk producers and are working on numerous initiatives for enhancing production and productivity in India towards making the dream of the Prime Minister a reality.’

In colourful events from distant Tirupati to coastal Gujarat to spreads of Rajasthan to the hinterlands of UP and Bihar, the dairy farmers took the pledge and thanked the Government for outlining the way forward by giving them a cherished goal of making the country a global leader to attain the target of 33% market share in the decade to come.

It is pertinent to note that India’s collective drive towards ‘Dairy of the World’ has women empowerment ingrained into it, as out of 22 Milk Producer Companies supported by NDS, 15 have all-women membership and all the Producer Directors’ on their Boards too are women. These 22 MPCs spread across 130 districts in 9 states of country, have 8.7 Lakh members and 71% of them are women.