Stating that the milk output will increase by 75 percent and milk entering processing chain will be tripled, Jammu and Kashmir Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Department (APD) Atal Dulloo said that over the next five years, the milk production is expected to reach 45 Lakh MTs from 26 Lakh MTs in the Union Territory.
Jammu and Kashmir is, however, set to witness the ‘White Revolution’ in the next five years.
“The milk production is expected to reach 45 Lakh MTs from 26 Lakh MTs and will be achieved through a range of measures including expansion of breeding coverage and increasing per animal productivity and strengthening milk processing and marketing, the government is confident that it will achieve its target of increasing milk production by 70 percent within the next five years,” Dulloo said.
He stated that the breeding cover improved from 30 percent to 70 percent and conception rate by 10 percent, adding, “creation of facilities for production of sexed semen within J&K with an aim to replace 50 percent normal semen with sexed semen.”
“With establishment of 500 village level milk collection units and 50 bulk milk chillers and village level value addition of 110 lakh liters of milk into traditional products, the per animal milk productivity increased from 2400L PA to 4300L PA,” he stated.
The ACS said that one of the key elements of the Dairy under Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) project is to increase per-animal productivity from 2400 litre to 4300 litre, which is a significant increase.
“This will be achieved through a range of interventions including the expansion of Artificial Insemination (AI) centers from 1389 to 2189,” he added.
“The administration will also produce around 16,000 jobs and 600 enterprises in next five years in dairy sector thus securing livelihood and assuring employability avenues for the youth,” he revealed and said that the government has proposed an amount of over Rs 350 crore in next five years for development of the dairy sector across Jammu and Kashmir.
Dulloo added that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has recently approved a project to increase milk production in the region by a significant 70 percent within the next five years, adding, “These projects shows the government’s commitment towards improving the livelihoods of the people living in Jammu and Kashmir and the Dairy Development in J&K is one among the approved 29 projects.”
Notably, the livestock sector projects were cleared by the Apex Committee led by Dr Mangla Rai in Dairy Development in J&K.
“J&K can be a model for dairy development in the entire country by milking farm policy reforms. At present, the annual milk production in Jammu and Kashmir is 26 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT), but according to the project, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has set a target to increase this figure to 45 LMT,” stated the ACS.
He said that this increase in milk production is expected to be achieved through a range of measures, including the expansion of breeding coverage and increasing per animal productivity.