DAIRYING AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY IN THE MARATHWADA, MAHARASHTRA

India, March 12 -- The Government of India issued the following news release:

Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) is implementing the following schemes across the country including Maharashtra to complement and supplement the efforts for milk production and milk processing infrastructure made by State Government:

National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) Supporting Dairy Cooperatives & Farmer Producer Organisations engaged in dairy activities (SDCFPO) Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) National Livestock Mission (NLM) Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP) These schemes are helping in improving milk productivity of bovines, strengthening of dairy infrastructure, enhancing availability of feed and fodder and providing animal health services. These interventions help to reduce the cost of milk production, provide organized market and also help to enhance income from dairy farming with the remunerative price to the produce.

In addition to this, step taken to enhance dairying and animal husbandry in the Marathwada region are detailed as under:

I. Vidarbha and Marathwada Dairy Development Project (VMDDP): a collaborative effort between the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was initiated to enhance dairy production and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

The project began in October 2016, starting with 175 kg of milk collected from 12 villages on the first day. It has since expanded to cover 3,411 villages, engaging 35,000 pourers, and currently averages 4.50 Lakh kg/day in milk procurement. Since inception till 20 Feb 2025, Rs. 2303.26 Crore have been paid directly into the bank accounts of the farmers 273 Artificial Insemination (AI) centres have been established for providing quality AI services to the farmers of Marathwada region in the AI project sanctioned under Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) scheme of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), Government of India (GoI). These AI centres have so far carried out about 2 Lakh AIs using conventional semen and 12,024 AIs using sexed semen. These AIs have so far added 20,979 genetically superior calves in the region. To provide remunerative price of milk and to provide technical inputs for enhancement of milk production, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Private Ltd. (MDFVPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of NDDB, under the first phase of Vidarbha and Marathwada Dairy Development Project (VMDDP), has set up milk procurement network in the four 4 districts of Marathwada including Nanded. The operational area covers 247 villages of Nanded districts and presently 1673 farmers are supplying milk. The milk collection infrastructure includes 187 milk pooling points, 15 bulk milk coolers and 1 milk chilling centers. II. State Government of Maharashtra informed that in order to enhance the dairy in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, State Govt implementing the "Supply of Milch Animals" is being implemented during the year 2023-24 and 2024-25. The vaccination of various animal disease has been carried out by the ministry in partnership with the Maharashtra state government under centrally sponsored scheme.

Under National Livestock Mission- Entrepreneur Development Scheme (NLM-EDP), 8 projects of Silage Manufacturing units are sanctioned in the Marathwada Region with total project cost of rs 682.19 lakh and an approved subsidy claim of rs 320.47 lakh.

The Seed of improved verities of fodder crops had been distributed to farmers on 100 percent subsidy basis for the availability of green fodder to Livestock under state schemes

In addition to this, to promote fodder cultivation in the Marathwada Region, Aanna Fodder Producer Company Limited, an FPO was registered on 19 March 2023, under a central sector scheme 'Formation and Promotion of 10K FPO' scheme with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Latur as CBBO and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) as the Implementing Agency. FPO's operational area is Latur district and is involved in trading cattle feed to its members. This Fodder Producer Company has so far enrolled 300 farmers as its shareholders, and have initiated business operations.

This information was given by Union Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 12th March, 2025.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.