Chennai: India’s journey from a milk deficit country to one of surplus has been momentous. Initiated in 1970, Operation Flood was arguably the world’s most ambitious dairy development program that transformed India into one of the largest milk producers.
Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said, “Today, with an annual production of 187.75 Million Tonnes (per 2018-19 data) India accounts for about twenty two percent of the world’s milk production. However, India is yet to join the ranks of major milk exporting nations, as much of what we produce is directed towards meeting domestic demands”.
So what are the factors that have been hampering the productivity levels of our cows?
“While the dairy sector, as an industry, employs more than 70 million farmers, we are yet to identify ways in which we can enhance the return on investment for our farmers. Recent data indicates that average productivity output of indigenous cattle (both non-descript and high yielding indigenous breeds) is only 1099 kg per animal per year, while for cross-bred cattle average productivity is 3073 kg per animal per year. So, the magic word is cross breeding,” he said.
Cross breeding has taken off in a big way because of the advancements in reproductive technologies like In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), embryo transfer process, and artificial insemination. Out of these processes, IVF and artificial insemination have proven to be the most popular and effective methods.
“The NAIP (Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme) Phase-I was launched by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi – in Mathura on 11 September 2019. Every animal in the programme was assigned a 12-digit unique identification number under the Pashu Aadhar scheme to ensure accuracy in tracking – the animal is monitored continuously from the period of artificial insemination till the birth of the calf,” he added.
NAIP Phase-II was initiated on the 1 August 2020 with an allocation of Rs 1090 crore in 604 districts covering 50,000 animals
per district and is on track to be completed by the 31 May 2021. Consequently, 18 Million Metric Tonnes of additional milk will be produced, as average productivity will be enhanced from 1861 kg per animal per year to 3000 kg per animal per year.
IVF has become a helpful tool in crossbreeding as under this technology semen from different bulls can be used to fertilise each oocyte from a collection, that in turn enables greater genetic diversity from a single cow. Projects for the establishment of 30 IVF labs have already been sanctioned, and 15 labs have been made functional thus far, he stated.