Mr Parshottam Rupala, the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India felicitated 75 entrepreneurs during a conference to give an update and launch the Rs.15000 crores Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF). He expressed concern over the rise in the cost of animal feed in the last few years. There is a need to think about the food security of animals as well as programmes on food security for humans and prepare some programmes to ensure it. The sector can contribute immensely to help meet the objective of doubling farmers’ income. The fund seeks to incentivise investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSMEs, and Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) to set up dairy and meat processing capacities, animal feed plants, breed improvement, and many other segments. Ministry has prepared the credit guarantee portal for AHIDF. It has been designed as a rule-based B2B portal. It shall implement the enrollment of eligible lending institutions under the Credit Guarantee Scheme, issuance/renewal of Credit Guarantee Cover, and Settlement of Claims.
Animal Husbandry Ministry constituted National Advisory Committee for Animal Husbandry and Dairying sector to recommend, prescribe and advise policies relating to cattle and dairy development, feed and fodder, poultry, piggery, sheep, goat animal health, other livestock etc. The National Advisory Committee will be chaired by Union Minister and co-chaired by the Minister of State. The Secretary of Ministry will act as an esteemed member of the committee along with the Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretaries and Statistical Advisor of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and GoI members. Many eminent personalities like R. S. Sodhi, MD, AMUL; R. G. Chandramogan, CMD, Hatsun Dairy; Daljeet Singh Gill, Chairman, Progressive Dairy Farmers Association; Dr Inderjeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary University and Dr Shyam Zawar, Cattle Expert are members on Dairy and cattle committee. Mr Balram Singh Yadav, MD, Godrej Agrovet Ltd.; Dr Saurabh Sekhar, MD Nutreco India and Mr Suresh Deora, Secretary of CLFMA of India are nominated for the feed and fodders committee.
The second phase of the National Dairy Plan (NDP-II), which will focus on supporting smaller milk unions to strengthen their marketing efforts and tackling adulteration in milk, is likely to be finalised soon. The size of the NDP-Phase II is likely to be in the range of Rs 1200-1500 crore. The project’s second phase would focus on enhancing milk’s testing mechanism by digitising milk tankers to control adulteration in transit and manure management. The project may support co-operatives for ethnoveterinary medicine to care for common diseases and also focus on earlier activities like improving village coverage and adding more farmers to the co-operative network.
Banas Dairy announced a 19.12 per cent price difference for every milk pourer member of the Union. It would work out to Rs.1,650 crores, the highest sum ever. In the previous year, 2020-21, the dairy had given Rs.1,132 crores as price difference. The price difference is the remuneration paid over and above the milk procurement price given to the milk producers. Dairy earns additional revenues by selling value-added and non-dairy products. The profits earned from the sale of these products are calculated at the end of the year and subsequently distributed among the dairy members. Banas Dairy has set a role model for the country to follow. Its remarkable achievements in milk and honey procurement are inspiring many others in the country. During the year, Banas Dairy registered a record daily milk collection of 90.58 lakh litres, while the average procurement was recorded at 74.04 lakh kg for the year.
Pre-packaged and pre-labelled retail food items including curd, lassi and buttermilk will attract 5% GST at par with the branded ones. The new rates came into effect on July 18. Exemption for items sold in loose, etc. will continue. Ghee and butter will attract GST at the rate of 12 per cent. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) says only 15 per cent of the population in the country uses branded goods, while the rest lives on products which are pre-packed or pre-labelled. They have urged GST Council to roll back this decision as this will hurt small businesses and consumers in a big way.