White Revolution 2.0 Should Be Implemented As A Poverty-Relieving And Development Programme

Assured procurement will lead to more milk production and require additional supply of fodder. R G Chandramohan, founder and managing director of Chennai-based Hatsun Agro Product, India's largest private dairy, believes the country's tropical weather allows cultivation of fodder round the year, unlike in Europe, New Zealand and Australia which experience long and severe winters. Dairy farmers should grow Co-5, bajra-napier hybrid grass developed by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), he says. With proper irrigation, they could harvest about 30–35 tonnes of this grass a year and get about 20,000 litres of milk per acre, which could make them globally competitive.

Narayan Hegde, who was involved in the propagation of crossbred cattle for many decades, says Chandramogan’s model is suited for those with land and irrigation facilities. A total of 55% of fodder comes from crop residues, he says, but farmers do not make economic use of it. Chopping can increase the digestibility of jowar and bajra stalks by 10% and reduce methane emissions by that amount, he says.  

The challenge is to extend dairying through assured milk procurement to those states that are low milk producers. These are typically tribal states in central India and the north-east. Bringing milk suppliers together, creating a network for collecting milk daily from villages that are not well connected, transporting it in chilled tanks, making weekly payments and arranging feed supply will need dedication, effort and investment. Low-yielding indigenous and non-descript cattle breeds will have to be replaced with high-yielding crossbred animals. People will have to be trained in dairying and veterinarians will be needed to prevent and cure diseases. 

There is scope for increasing milk production in states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, that produce about 2–3 million tonnes a year. In the north-eastern states, it is less than one lakh litres each. This is way below, say, production in Uttar Pradesh (36 million tonnes), Rajasthan (33 MT), Madhya Pradesh (20 MT), Gujarat (17 MT), Andhra Pradesh (15 MT), Punjab (14 MT) and Haryana (12 MT). 

Milk is also a preferred food item, so demand is likely to increase. While the share of cereals in monthly per-capital consumption expenditure has declined sharply, that of milk and milk products has held, even though the size of the expenditure has more than doubled since 2011–12. The average monthly per person spending on milk and milk products is Rs 314 and Rs 466 in rural and urban areas respectively, compared to Rs 115 and Rs 184 in 2011–12. 

If milk procurement is extended to new areas, consumption of milk and milk products there might increase even allowing for differences in food habits. The share of milk and milk products in total monthly per capita food expenditure in 2022–23 ranged between 7% and 11% in the low milk consumption states, while in the cow belt states, it was between 17% and 41.7%.  

But the health of the cattle economy also depends on putting animals to sleep once past their economic life. This is where cultural inhibitions can trump economic necessity.