Amul Dairy always takes lead in increasing sales prices of milk and milk products. They also increased milk procurement prices. It will be a big relief to dairy farmers as it will partially compensate for the increase in the cost of milk production during summer. Other dairies are also following this pattern all over India.
ITC has developed an app for farmers. A pilot project is being done with it and the app will soon be launched as the company targets to partner with 5,000 FPOs over the next five years, many to be converted from existing 6,800 e-choupals leveraging the company’s strong presence in Agri/food value chain.
After two washed-out summer seasons, ice-cream companies hope to witness a bounce back in sales aided by the uptick in the out-of-home channel as well as the increase in footfalls in hotels and restaurants. Players are gearing up with new launches and strengthening their distribution networks aiming to clock growth over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Amul is expecting to see strong growth of 30-35 per cent over the same period in 2019. Mother Dairy introducing ten new products this season and plan to foray into additional 100 towns across the country with a mass media campaign.
GCMMF, which markets dairy products under the Amul brand, is expecting an 18 per cent growth in its turnover this fiscal year to around Rs.46,000 crores on better demand. They had posted a marginal growth of 2 per cent during the 2020-21 financial year to Rs.39,200 crores despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for all products, like butter, ice cream, milk, has improved. In volume terms, the growth will be around 15 per cent. The cooperative sells 150 lakh litres of milk per day, of which Gujarat contributes around 60 lakh litres, Delhi-NCR 37 lakh litres and Maharashtra 20 lakh litres. The GCMMF has an installed processing capacity of nearly 400 lakh litres per day.
The feed and fodder sector which has a prime role in bolstering animal productivity remained entirely absent from the budgetary conversation. It is a stark reminder for all of us that supply of feed and fodder has always fallen short of the aggregate demand in the country and this gap is expected to be wider in the near future. The timely unavailability of nutritionally rich feed and fodder is a major hitch that impinges on the productivity growth of farm animals in the country. Moreover, feed and fodder account for around 60-70 per cent share of the cost of milk production. The government can give support to the fodder sector through multi-pronged strategies right from its production to marketing. At the outset, all the State governments must be directed to dedicate sufficient amounts for fodder resource development. Investment is also required to ensure parallel development of supporting market environment for surplus fodder encompassing backwards and forward market linkages. The provision of dedicated market space with legal credentials will facilitate transparency and remunerative prices for fodder traders. As there exists regional and seasonal disparity in fodder production, channelising funds for establishing community fodder banks where surplus fodder can be stored as hay/silage/ fodder blocks for use during scarcity is crucial for safeguarding the interest of small dairy farmers.
Changing trends in meat consumption across the globe, especially pork platters, is fast catching up in South Asian nations, including India. However, supply has failed to meet the growing consumption of pork meat in India, which accounts for a small percentage of the meat demand in the country. Pork production in India is only 1.7 per cent of the total production of 4.1 million tonnes. Pork meat consumption was 2.95 lakh tonnes in 2021. Of the total production, the north-eastern states consume the meat more than other states. The scarcity of piglets, coupled with lower productivity and rising demand, make the demand-supply situation more complex. The need of the hour is to strengthen pig production in the country in line with domestic demand, considering the nutritional, food security and livelihood issues. There is a need to take up pig production as a priority area in livestock production. Government projects such as the National Livestock Mission, cold chain projects of the Ministry of Food Processing and Industries and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure development projects can pave the way for strengthening pig production programmes. The thrust on pig production, including research, extension, genetics and nutrition will contribute to more than five per cent of agriculture GDP in the coming five years. However, the sector requires skill development programmes to improve integrated value chain systems. Entrepreneurs should be given opportunities to invest in the sector so as to strengthen the production, consumption, value addition and marketing of pork products, including ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products.