India @ 2047: Dairy to the World
Recently, India hosted the International Dairy Federation (IDF) conference - The World Dairy Summitafter 48 years during September 12-15, 2022 at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, (Delhi NCR). This was also the first physical IDF conference held post Covid. 48 years ago in 1974, when India hosted its first IDF World Dairy Summit, global milk production was of 416 MMT (114 crore litre per day) and India contributed to 5.5% of the total production with 22MMT (6 crore litres per day). It is with immense pride that we can say that India has come a long way since the time it hosted the last conference. From a milk deficit nation having a milk production of 22 MMT (6 crore litres per day) in 1970’s to 209 MMT (58 crore liters per day) in 2021-22, the world now recognizes India as a global force to reckon with. Since independence, India's population increased by 4 times while milk production grew at more than 10 times. Today India contributes to 22% of the global milk production and with the increasing investments, infrastructural growth, government support and latest technological integrations, it would further contribute to 33% and 45% of the world’s milk production by the year 2030 and 2047 respectively.
The theme for this year’s conference was - “Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood”. Over 1,500 national and international dairy leaders, experts, farmers, processors, and producers attended 24 sessions grouped into various thematic verticals, such as Global dairy situation and trends, Dairy Science and Farming techniques and innovations, Socioeconomic and Livelihood, Nutrition and Health, as well as Sustainability and Climate Action discussions, delivered by speakers and specialists from all over the world. In addition to the live sessions, global audiences could also participate via online sessions. The programme included various panels integrated by prestigious speakers, many of whom are distinguished members of key stakeholder organizations, such as FAO, Codex, WHOA, OECD, UNEP, World Bank, Global Children Nutrition Foundation. During the conference around 114 National and International exhibitors represented their respective companies.
The Opening Ceremony on 12th Sept 2022 was presided over by the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the presence of more than 3000 other distinguished guests. He emphasized the significance of milk, animal husbandry and allied sectors in Bharat (Rural India) and how the business of milk has been integral to India’s culture from time immemorial. Unlike other developed countries of the world, small and marginal farmers have been the driving force of dairy sector in India. The prime minister rightly highlighted that the Indian dairy sector owes its success to ‘production by masses’ rather than ‘mass production’. Today, India is the largest milk producing country in the world and the sector provides employment to more than eight crore families of India. Out of the total producers’ work force, around 70% are women milk producer members managing the entire operations of dairying and animal husbandry. The successful execution of such a unique business model can be witnessed only in India. The co-operative business model can also become the holy grail for the development of dairy sector in many underdeveloped countries of the world.
Hon’ble Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Government of India, Shri Amit Shah, also shared his view about dairy and animal husbandry sector. He applauded the co-operative model of business implemented in the Indian dairy sector where 70 per cent of every consumer rupee goes back to the farmers. India was the 11th largest economy in 2014 and now it has moved up to number five. He highlighted that going ahead, the dairy industry must adopt professionalism, latest technology, computerization, and digital payments on a large scale. Dairy producers were asked to enhance production in order to meet the growing domestic demand and to supply milk to poor nations. He also assured that the government will assist in establishing two lakh dairy cooperatives at village level before the 2024 elections.
The Director General of IDF - Ms. Caroline Emond, remarked that the IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 was a forum for the global dairy sector actors and stakeholders to meet and discuss issues pertaining to world dairy, share knowledge and innovations, identify patterns and trends for the future and generate networking and business opportunities. It was also an opportunity to know more about the Indian dairy practices and learn from its experiences. In this respect, Mr. Piercristiano Brazzale, President, IDF added that he was “particularly impressed” by the sophistication and technology that Indian dairy value chain has incorporated. This is reflected upon the breath-taking metrics that Indian Dairy shows today and its projected future growth which will surely consolidate it as the largest on a global scale.
Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, GoI, addressed the gathering and said that India’s dairy business is set to grow by two and a half times to ₹30 trillion as the Union government promised to further boost the dairy cooperative sector for India’s forward march in the league of leading global economies. He further added that dairy cooperatives have played a crucial role in the emergence of India as a global dairy powerhouse. The government is committed to give further boost to dairy cooperatives in association with NDDB as the country is bound to make further gains in dairy output.
Taking part in a technical session during the ongoing IDF World Dairy Summit 2022, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Chairman, Shri Meenesh Shah said that the current value of Indian dairy business is close to ₹13 trillion. It is expected double in the next five years and reach close to ₹30 trillion by 2027. He also predicted that while the dairy sector will maintain an average growth rate of 15 per cent, some of its valueadded verticals like organic milk, cheese, flavoured milk, lassi, etc., will be growing at over 20 per cent and these products are slated to drive the growth of the Indian dairy sector in the coming years.
The IDF conference held at India was an opportunity to show case the real strength of small milk producer members particularly women producers of India, the reality of production and consumption by masses, supply chain efficiency, various latest technology, and online money transfer by organization to milk producer members, innovation in launching new products, adoption of latest technology at milk procurement, processing, and marketing area, etc. All the international delegates and visitors who had only heard about the successful Indian Dairy practices, were surprised to witness the entire chain of operations in person and were rightly convinced that the co-operative way of working is the future.
Based on the milk production trend (short and long term), it is predicated that India may produce around 628 MMT of milk per year in next 25 years and contribute around 45% of world milk production. In next 25 years, the production value of milk may reach to USD 400 billion from current level of USD 110 billion. Further, during that time India will have surplus of around 110 MMT of milk which means India must start investing in export of milk and milk products. The future of dairy industry looks very optimistic and it's a great opportunity to show the real strength of dairying to the world.
Personally, having attended many international dairy conferences and World Dairy Summits over several years, I felt that India has really raised the bar for rest of the world with respect to the organization of the summit, the facilities provided to all attendees and the quality of sessions conducted during the 3-day conference. We look forward to more such events being organized in India for the world to come and experience the force that India is.