New Delhi, Mar 03: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah inaugurated the “Workshop on Sustainability and Circularity in Dairy Sector” in New Delhi today. Sustainability, efficiency and circularity of resources in the dairy sector will help realize Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’.
In his address, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah said that today when we are moving towards the White Revolution 2.0, the importance of sustainability and circularity takes precedence.
He said that apart from what we have achieved so far with the help of first White Revolution, sustainability and circularity in dairy sector are still to be fully accomplished.
Shah said that the main goal of White Revolution 2.0 is sustainability and circularity and we need to take care of it from the very beginning of White Revolution 2.0.
Amit Shah said that India’s dairy sector plays a huge role in the country’s as well as rural development and in making landless and small farmers prosperous. He said that it has taken care of our country’s nutrition, contributed in making the country the world’s number one milk producer and also provided additional income to farmers apart from agricultural income.
Union Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set three goals for us, viz. to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy, to be the third largest economy in the world, and become a fully developed country in 2047. He said that to achieve these three goals, we will have to develop a mechanism to explore and utilize all possibilities in every sector to the fullest.
He said that the dairy sector has today taken a visionary initiative to spread good practices related to circularity to 250 milk producer associations.
Amit Shah said that India’s agriculture system is based on small farmers and their migration from villages to cities is associated with their prosperity. He said that dairy is an important option to make small farmers prosperous along with overcoming the problem of rural migration. Shah said that this seminar will prove to be very useful to work with a holistic approach to explore all the possibilities of the dairy sector to the fullest.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last 10 years, a good beginning has been made to bring prosperity in agriculture in the country. He said that farmers have got the confidence and means also to go from village to global, their faith is also increasing on collective success in groups through cooperatives. Shah said that, at present, the emphasis should be given on setting up the entire chain from farm to factory in the village itself. He added that to uplift marginal farmers, it is crucial to map a journey from villages to the global stage, fostering confidence through collective efforts and establishing a comprehensive farm-to-factory value chain. He said that the Modi Government is realizing the mantra of profit for people along with the three principles of Sahkar Se Shakti, Sahkar Se Sahyog and Sahkar Se Samriddhi.
Amit Shah said that the objective of cooperatives is to earn profit as well as to put “people first”. He said that we can realize the principle of “profit for people” only through cooperatives. He said that today the release of the “Margdarshika” on circularity in the dairy sector, NDDB’s schemes for financial assistance to small, large and compressed biogas projects and the launch of NDDB and Sustain Plus project have also taken place.
Union Minister of Cooperation said that to fully utilize organic manure, the district level milk unions and rural dairies will have to bring those farmers also in the net of cooperation who are not yet connected with the cooperative.
He said that many farmers give milk to private dairies, but the cooperative sector should manage their dung, which will solve our minimum viability problem and we will be successful in attracting the farmers who are moving towards the private sector back to the cooperative sector.
Shah said that a program should be made to successfully implement the successful experiments done for gas production as a model in 250 district milk producing unions with a target of 2 years.
Amit Shah said that we have also started “Cooperation Amongst Cooperatives” to open all accounts in cooperative banks and today 93 percent of the institutions in Gujarat have accounts in cooperative banks.
He said that this has automatically made funds available for cooperatives and banks have also become stronger. He said that the Micro ATM model in Gujarat is providing unprecedented benefits to the livestock farmers of the state, NABARD should take this model to every district of the country. Shri Shah said that our effort should be that all machines, from measuring fat to all dairy products, should be manufactured in India. He said that carbon credit should be made a part of our system and a scientific system should be made on the cooperative model to ensure that it reaches the farmers.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today there are 23 state level unions in the country but we should envision forming a state level union in every state and union territory under White Revolution 2.0. He said that in White Revolution 2.0, we can aim to form milk unions in 80 percent of the districts of the country and increase the number of marketing dairies from the current 28 to 3 times in number.
Shah said that in the cooperative dairy sector, more than 75 per cent of the money coming from the consumer goes directly to the farmers. He said that in the corporate sector, farmers get only 32 per cent of the money. He said that we should aim to reduce this profit gap between farmers and companies for every farmer in the country. Along with this, we should also try to bring 16 crore tonnes of cow dung for the benefit of cooperatives.
Amit Shah said that there has been huge reduction in the emission of Methane and Carbon dioxide and its 100 per cent carbon credit should go to the farmers in their bank accounts and this is the real meaning of circularity. He said that the dairy cooperative sector also works a lot in terms of providing employment to women and today 72 per cent women are working in the cooperative dairy sector. Shah said that this proves that in the cooperative dairy sector, work is taking place for the employment and empowerment of women.
The workshop was organized by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), Government of India in collaboration with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Union Ministers of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Professor S.P. Singh Baghel and George Kurien, Alka Upadhyay, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and many other dignitaries attended the event.
