Lumpy skin disease (LSD) had a marginal impact on India’s milk output

The good news is that our liquid milk production has been marginally impacted by the outbreak of Lumpy Skin Disease in some parts of the country. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has lowered milk output for 2022 by 0.5 percent, or about one million tonnes, at 202.5 million tonnes (mt), against the earlier estimate of 203.5 mt. This is the result of lower milk yield in cattle and buffalo herds affected by the LSD outbreak in Maharashtra and the northern parts of India. The rising cost of fodder and grain prices contributed to lower milk yield per animal. The uneven 2022 monsoon, which was characterized by prolonged dry spells, coupled with abnormally high rains, affected the availability of fodder throughout 2022. Milk output in 2023, starting January, will be 2.2 percent higher at 207 mt, from 202.5 mt estimated for 2022. This is far lower than the estimated 6 percent growth recorded in milk output during the past eight years. Factors limiting dairy cow productivity include the low genetic potential, limited nutritious and balanced feed rations, and inadequate veterinary care. India’s average milk yield per animal per day has been recorded lower than that in the US at over 30 kg/day and in the United Kingdom at 22 kg/day. However, India’s per capita milk consumption is recorded at 427 grams (g)/ day (2020-2021), higher than the world average of 305 g/day. Due to a rise in input costs in 2022, cow milk procurement prices ranged between Rs 32-36/liter and buffalo milk procurement prices between Rs 55-57/liter. The average consumer retail price of milk stood at Rs 54/liter.

India’s manure (cattle dung) management initiatives are being undertaken by NDDB with partner organizations and it is successfully addressing the cooking gas needs of households, besides generating income from the sale of bio-slurry, solid and liquid organic fertilizers, and improving soil fertility. This initiative is also being furthered by setting up large-scale biogas plants that would meet the energy needs of the dairy plants.

‘Pashudhan’ is part of the Amul Milk Producers’ App — a free app for dairy producers of Amul. The platform allows farmers to place a “sell offer” along with details like location, price, productivity, breed, age, photo/video, etc. The app, launched around two months ago, is fast gaining traction. It is a wonderful tool for transparent cattle trade, which was earlier completely dependent on references and commission agents. This directly connects the buyer and seller, thereby providing transparency and savings on commission. This has become a 24×7 marketplace for cattle. The app provides massive real-time data on cattle, enabling it to do trend analysis and keep an eye on the developments on the ground. 36 lakh milk producers registered with various milk cooperative societies in Gujarat own around 25 lakh indigenous cows, over 35 lakh hybrid cows, and more than 70 lakh buffaloes. Dairy experts believe that going forward this platform can create an alternate business for those interested in only rearing and selling the animals and not dairying.

Digivriddhi Technologies Private Limited (DGV), India’s first integrated dairy fintech and marketplace platform, will provide dairy farmers access to institutional credit with an objective to ease and digitalize the dairy value chain. DGV has entered into a partnership with GCMMF (AMUL) to create the last-mile financial access infrastructure for 3.6 million dairy farmers in Gujarat. DGV provides dairy farmers banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) access starting with simplifying payments to them for the milk they pour at village-level societies. They are provided access to like digital cattle loans, insurance, and a marketplace to discover quality bovines. DGV PAY and DGV MONEY will form the basis of financial inclusion for dairy farmers and dairy micro-enterprises in a simple and seamless way, the statement said. Through direct integration with ERP systems across the dairy value chain, DGV has created an underwriting mechanism to facilitate digital working capital loans to milk societies and digital cattle loans for dairy farmers.

Krishify, a Gurugram-based agritech start-up platform, has integrated with the Platform of Platforms (PoPs) portal by the electronic National Agricultural Market (eNAM). e-NAM, a unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, is a pan-India electronic trading portal that networks existing agricultural produce market committees’ (APMC) yards to create a unified national market for agrarian commodities for farmers, traders, and other intermediaries. As a service provider, Krishify, a social networking platform for farmers in the country, will provide advisory services to farmers widening the reach beyond the one-crore user base on its network.