India: World's Largest
Milk Producer
India has become the world's No.
1 milk producing country, with output in 1999-200
(marketing year ending March 2000) forecasted at 78 million tonnes.
United States, where the milk production is anticipated to grow
only marginally at 71 million tonnes, occupied the top slot till
1997. In the year 1997, India's milk production was on par with
the U.S. at 71 million tonnes. The world milk production in 1998
at 557 million tonnes would continue the steady progress in recent
years (see Table 1). Furthermore, the annual
rate of growth in milk production in India is between 5-6 per cent,
against the world's at 1 per cent. The steep rise in the
growth pattern has been attributed to a sustained
expansion in domestic demand, although per capita consumption
is modest - at 70 kg of milk equivalent.
Annual
Milk Prodcution has trebled
India's annual
milk production has more than trebled in the last 30 years, rising
from 21 million tonnes in 1968 to an anticipated 80 million tonnes
in 2001. This rapid growth and modernization is largely credited
to the contribution of dairy cooperatives, under the Operation Flood
(OF) Project, assisted by many multi-lateral agencies, including
the European Union, the World Bank, FAO and WFP (World Food Program).
In the Indian context of poverty and malnutrition, milk has a special
role to play for its many nutritional advantages as well as providing
supplementary income to some 70 million farmers in over 500,000
remote villages.
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