Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah attended the 49th Dairy Industry Conference organized by the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) as the chief guest at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, today. Several dignitaries including Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendra Patel were present on the occasion.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that dairy is a business for the world but in a country like India with a population of 130 crore, it is a source of employment, an alternative to strengthen the rural economy, a solution to the problems of malnutrition and a sector of immense potential for women empowerment. He said that since India's independence if we look at the development of the dairy industry, then it is evident that the dairy sector has aptly linked all these aspects with the development of the country. Shri Shah said that the Cooperative Dairy which worked has for the prosperity of the farmers, has hugea contribution in this. Cooperative dairy has paved the path for making the country's poor women farmers self-reliant. He said that in the 75th year of independence, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi formed the Ministry of Cooperation to fulfil the mantra of “Sahkar se Samridhi”.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Indian Dairy Association was established soon after independence the in 1948, and IDA has been instrumental in the development of the dairy sector in the country. He said that an attempt has been made in this conference to have acomprehensive discussion to make India's dairy sector the strongest in the world. He said that our dairy and animal husbandry sector contributes 4.5 per cent to the country's GDP and the contribution of dairy sector to agriculture sector is 24 per cent, which is valued around Rs 10 Lakh crore and it is highest in the world. Shri Shah said that dairy is a strong part of our economy and in terms of employment, about 45 crore people from 9 crore rural households, especially marginal farmers and women, are directly associated with the dairy sector today.

Shri Amit Shah said that our dairy sector has progressed at an annual rate of 6.6 percent in the last decade. He said that the Ministry of Cooperation, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Department of Animal Husbandry formed by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will establish rural dairies in 2 lakh panchayats in the country and then the growth rate of the dairy sector will reach 13.80 percent. He said that our milk processing capacity is about 126 million liters per day, which is the highest in the world. Shri Shah said that we process 22 percent of our total milk production, which benefits the farmer in the form of increased income. He said that in the export of dairy products also products like milk powder, butter and ghee have a major share and there is immense potential in this. He said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has formed a Multistate Cooperative Society for exports and by connecting it with these 2 lakh rural dairies there is a possibility of increasing exports by 5 times.

The Union Minister of Cooperation said that looking at the dairy scenario of the world, in 1970 India produced about 6 crore litres of milk per day and it was a milk deficient country. He said that this production has increased to 58 Crore litres per day in 2022 and dairy sector has played a huge role it. He said that from 1970 to 2022 India's population has increased 4 times whereas milk production has increased more than 10 times. He said that the per capita consumption of milk in the country was 107 grams in 1970, today, it has increased to 427 grams per capita, which is more than the world average of 300 grams. Shri Shah said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will not waste any opportunity for the development of the dairy sector and all efforts are being made so that India emerge as the largest milk exporter in the world.

Shri Amit Shah said that there is a need for White Revolution-2 in the country today and we are moving forward in this direction under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He said that the cooperative model in the dairy sector touches all aspects including income, nutrition, livestock care, protecting human interest, employment and women empowerment. Shri Shah said that by eliminating the middlemen between the farmer and the consumer in the entire system, cooperative modelprovides maximum profit to the farmer. He said that the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is making efforts to strengthen the cooperative model in the dairy sector.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today India's share in milk production has gone up to 21 percent and the Amul model has contributed a lot in this. He said that the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is making every possible effort for 360-degree development of the dairy sector in India. Shri Shah said that after the formation of 2 lakh primary milk production societies in the country, 33 percent of the world's milk production is likely to happen in India and for this the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, State Governments and the Cooperative Movement will have to work together. He said that India should become the world's largest market in the field of milk production as well as milk processing equipment. Shri Shah said that we have to move forward with the goal that by the year 2033-34 India should produce 33 percent of the world's milk with about 330 MMT milk production every year.

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