100% vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease & Brucellosis in three years, says PM Modi

NEW DELHI, Sep 12 (The CONNECT) – India is working on a digital solution to track end-to-end activities of the dairy sector including the animal diseases, vaccination and cross-breeding to ensure improved yield for farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said.

Inaugurating the four-day International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 organised at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, Modi said a major problem that is affecting the income of farmers is the diseases among animals. “When the animal is sick it affects the life of the farmer, affecting his income. It also affects the efficiency of the animal, the quality of its milk and other related products”, he said.

The Prime Minister emphasised that in this direction, India is working toward universal vaccination of animals. “We have resolved that by 2025, we will vaccinate 100% of the animals against Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis. We are aiming to be completely free from these diseases by the end of this decade”, Modi remarked.

The Prime Minister observed that there has been a loss of livestock in many states of India due to the disease named Lumpy in the recent past and assured everyone that the central government, along with various state governments, is trying their level best to keep a check on it. “Our scientists have also prepared indigenous vaccine for Lumpy Skin Disease”, the Prime Minister added. The Prime Minister also pointed out that efforts are being made to track the movement of animals to keep the outbreak under control. Be it vaccination of animals or any other modern technology, the Prime Minister said that India is always eager to contribute to the field of dairy while striving to learn from its partner nations. “India has acted swiftly on its food safety standards”, he said.

Noting that the potential of the dairy sector not only gives impetus to the rural economy, but is also a major source of livelihood for crores of people across the world, he pointed out that as compared to the two per cent production growth at the global level, India is clocking the milk production growth rate at more than 6 per cent.

Explaining the second unique characteristic of the Indian dairy system, the Prime Minister reiterated that there is such a huge network of Dairy Cooperative in India, and one cannot find such an example in the whole world elsewhere. Shri Modi said that these dairy cooperatives collect milk twice a day from about two crore farmers in more than two lakh villages in the country and deliver it to the customers. The Prime Minister drew everyone’s attention to the fact that there is no middleman in the entire process, and more than 70 per cent of the money that is received from the customers goes directly into the pockets of the farmers. “No other country has this ratio in the whole world”, the Prime Minister added. He also underlined the efficiency of the digital system of payment in the dairy sector and said that it has many lessons for other countries.

Another unique feature, according to the Prime Minister, is the indigenous breeds that can withstand many adverse circumstances. He gave the example of the sturdy buffalo breed of Banni Buffalo of the Kutch region of Gujarat.  He also talked about other buffalo breeds such as Murrah, Mehsana, Jafrabadi, Nili Ravi, and Pandharpuri; among the cow breeds, he mentioned Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Kankrej, Tharparker and Haryana.

As another unique characteristic, Modi highlighted the power of women in the dairy sector, the Prime Minister pointed out that women have a 70% representation in the workforce in India's dairy sector. “Women are the real leaders of India's dairy sector”, he added, “Not only this, more than a third of the members of dairy cooperatives in India are women.” He said at more than eight and a half lakh crore rupees, the dairy sector is more than the combined value of wheat and rice. This is all driven by the women power of India.

The Prime Minister underlined the centrality of ‘Pashu Dhan’ and milk-related business in the cultural landscape of India. This has given the dairy sector of India many unique characteristics. The Prime Minister pointed out that unlike other developed countries of the world, the driving force of the dairy sector in India is small farmers. India's dairy sector is characterized by "production by masses" more than "mass production". India is the largest milk-producing country on the basis of the efforts of these small farmers with one, two or three cattle. This sector provides employment to more than 8 crore families in the country, he informed.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the State has an enormous potential for investment in the dairy sector today as the government has come up with a new dairy policy with a provision to give maximum incentives to the investors in the sector.

Yogi Adityanath added that the government will also create awareness about the best practices of dairy sector in different countries of the world among the farmers of the state. A number of stakeholders, entrepreneurs, experts, farmers and policy-makers of the dairy sector of the country and abroad were present at the event.

Highlighting the efforts made by the government for protection of cows, the Chief Minister said that more than 6,600 cow shelters are operating in the state. Under the 'Sahbhagita Yojna', 1.50 lakh cows have been provided to farmers and livestock farmers and a certain amount is also being given for the protection of these animals.

The CM mentioned that a total of 84 lakh cattle have been vaccinated in the state, praising the special vaccination campaign undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect animals from scabies and mouth disease and terming it as "effective."

The IDF WDS 2022 is a congregation of global and Indian dairy stakeholders including industry leaders, experts, farmers and policy planners centring around the theme of ‘Dairy for Nutrition and Livelihood’. Around 1500 participants from 50 countries are expected to participate in IDF WDS 2022. The last such Summit was held in India about half a century ago in 1974.