Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying here on Monday launched NDDB MRIDA Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of National Dairy Development Board to take forward manure management initiatives across the country in presence of Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, MoS, FAHD and Dr L Murugan, MoS, FAHD. Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, DAHD, Govt. of India, Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB, Ms Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary (CDD), DAHD, and Shri Sandeep Bharti, newly appointed Managing Director of NDDB MRIDA Limited.

NDDB has established NDDB MRIDA Limited, an Unlisted Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 2013 on July 1, 2022 as with the paid-up capital of Rs. 9.50 crore.

On the occasion, Shri Rupala said NDDB Mrida Ltd will open avenues of additional income to dairy farmers from sale of slurry/ dung. He added that it will help in savings to the farmers by virtue of replacement of cooking fuel with biogas. He further said that efforts are being made for better utilisation of bovine dung but most are individual initiatives and this new company will provide structured impetus to manure management efforts.

Promoting usage of dung-based manure will gradually lead to replacement of chemical fertilisers with organic manure thereby reducing dependency on India’s dependency on imports, said the Union minister.

On this occasion, Dr Balyan launched a brochure on NDDB MRIDA Limited and Dr Murugan handed over NDDB’s SUDHAN trademark to Chairman and MD, NDDB MRIDA Limited.

Dr Balyan said this is a first-of-its-kind company focussing on efficient utilisation of dung by creating a manure management value chain which will immensely contribute to enhancing the livelihoods of dairy farmers and at the same time contribute towards Swachh Bharat Mission and promotion of green energy.

Dr Murugan said the manure management initiatives have potential to generate biogas equivalent to 50 per cent of India’s present LPG consumption & also produce bio slurry equivalent to 44 per cent of India’s NPK requirement. He added that efficient manure management promotes general well being & cleanliness, contributes to increasing the productive economic life cycle of the milch animals beyond milking thereby helping tackle the problem of stray cattle & lowering of GHG emissions.

Shri Chaturvedi said that NDDB has also taken up projects for utilisation of cattle dung to meet the energy needs of dairy plants. He added that foundation stone for first such project was laid by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in Varanasi on December 23, 2021. NDDB has also registered a trademark named “SuDhan” to provide common identity to dung based organic fertilisers.

Shri Shah said NDDB Mrida Ltd will take up setting up of manure value chain, biogas based CNG generation, biogas-based energy generation for dairy plants. He added thst the new company will explore opportunities to efficiently use cattle dung as ingredient for various applications in different industries and as a replacement to traditional wood, clay, paint, etc.

Chairman, NDDB and NDDB Mrida Ltd said the company will undertake research and development on cost effective technologies for efficient dung management and a major area of focus will be establishing revenue generation models at the village-level through sale of cattle dung-based products. He added that the company will provide marketing and sale support to agencies manufacturing gobar-gas slurry-based fertilisers and establish mechanisms to accrue carbon revenue from the projects to generate additional revenue stream for dairy farmers.

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