Pawar urges states to increase milk production
November 18th, 2011 - 8:53 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Concerned over the shortage of milk, dairy products, meat and poultry pushing up food inflation, union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Friday asked the states to increase production to meet the increasing demand of the consumables.
Recently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had blamed increased consumption of these items for high food inflation, still in double- digits.
“We need to increase production and productivity to meet the ever-escalating demand for milk, dairy products, meat and poultry,” said Pawar.
“States are expected to make maximum efforts for development of this sector.”
Demand for milk is increasing at a faster rate than the production. To meet the increasing demand, milk production needs to be increased by 50-60 lakh tonnes per year as against the current average of 35 lakh tonnes over the past five years, said officials.
“Besides meeting the increasing demand, the higher production and productivity will enable us to corner a much larger share of the world trade in livestock products which has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last decades,” said Pawar.
He was addressing the National Conference of State Animal Husbandry and Dairy Ministers here.
Pawar thanked the farmers for their hard work, persistence and experience gained over several generations that has contributed to India’s top rank in milk production in the world.
He also gave away Rashtriya Dugdh Utpadak Puraskar 2011 to 56 progressive dairy farmers selected from different states.
The minister pointed out that livestock and fisheries contributed nearly 32 percent of the value of output of agriculture and allied sectors during 2009-10.
The contribution of these sectors to the national GDP for the year 2009-10 was approximately 5 percent while total export earnings from livestock, poultry and related products exceeded Rs.10,800 crore, said Pawar.
The central government supplements the activities of the states by providing assistance for the control of animal diseases, scientific management and upgradation of genetic resources, increasing availability of nutritious feed and fodder.
-
- Increase milk, vegetables production to curb food inflation: Thomas - Oct 30, 2011
- High food inflation due to change in food habits? - Nov 08, 2011
- Ensuring milk security for the Indian consumer (Comment) - May 20, 2011
- Changing food habits causing inflation: Thomas - Oct 28, 2011
- UP to ask NID to design packs for milk products - Mar 27, 2012
- Milk prices set to increase in north India: Pawar - Jan 20, 2010
- Food prices to decline after winter crop: Sharad Pawar - Nov 07, 2009
- Will control foot and mouth disease: Minister - Feb 13, 2012
- No move to raise milk prices in north India, says Pawar - Jan 21, 2010
- Agriculture reform at heart of Pranab's budget - Feb 28, 2011
- Food production may surpass target: Pawar - Sep 14, 2011
- Food Security: Inconceivable without agricultural growth - Mar 18, 2011
- Rainfed-dryland farming needs more investment (Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
- Record 250 mn tonnes food grain production in 2012-13: PM - Feb 15, 2012
- Food grain production could hit record 250 mn tonnes: PM (Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
Tags: agriculture minister, animal husbandry, dairy farmers, double digits, export earnings, finance minister, leaps and bounds, livestock poultry, livestock products, manmohan singh, maximum efforts, meat and poultry, milk dairy, milk production, national gdp, pranab mukherjee, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, sharad pawar, state animal