India remains world's top milk producer
21 Dec 2011
India has retained its position as the world's largest milk producer, according to the annual report of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), released yesterday.
India's estimated milk production for the year 2010-11 is 121 MT, around 17 per cent of world milk production as against last year's 112 MT. World milk production was up to 710 MT in 2010, up 1.6 per cent over previous year.
Dairy co-operatives collected 9.6 MT of milk in the year, a growth of around 1 per cent over the year, when dairy co-operatives had collected 9.4 MT of milk.
Liquid milk marketing by co-operatives was up by around 4 per cent over the previous year, ie around 8.2 MT in 2010-11 as against 7.9 MT last year.
According to the NDDB, the first phase of the National Dairy Plan (NDP) would be implemented in early 2012. NDP is a scientifically planned multi-state initiative proposed with a 15-year horizon, at an estimated investment of around Rs17,300 crore, to boost domestic milk production.
According to Dr Amrita Patel, NDDB chairman, NDP I had been appraised by the World Bank and approval for the project was expected shortly.