India is the future of the global dairy industry and it has a huge potential to increase milk output, Piercristiano Brazzale, President of International Dairy Federation (IDF), has said. He credited India’s small farmer-led cooperative dairy model for its leadership position.

Brazzale was in India for IDF’s four-day World Dairy Summit organised in Greater Noida during September 12-15.

Way forward

“NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) and the cooperatives like Amul and Nandini are also supporting dairy farmers in breeding with genetic improvement,” he said. The IDF chief noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought positive changes for the dairy sector with State-supported digitalisation. “Innovation and digitalisation are the future everywhere across sectors,” he said. He also underlined several challenges facing the dairy sector globally. “Sustainability and environmental impact, animal healthcare, and guaranteed food safety are the three big challenges for the dairy sector,” he said, while expressing concern over the problem of concurrency between dairy products and plant-based products or imitation products.

On inflation, Brazzale said the problem is hurting stakeholders globally across value-chains.

Amidst the inflation situation, Brazale said the solution for Indian dairy farmers lay in increasing efficiency in milk production. “Use digitalisation and implement new technology for efficiency, that is the only way. Also, with the help of the State, we need to fight the problem of speculation,” he added.

Source : The Hindu business line 20th sep 2022