Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund focuses on infrastructure to shift gears from management of shortages to handle surpluses”, said Mr Atul Chaturvedi, (IAS) during PHDCCI Video Conference

No.PR-233 August 29, 2020 New Delhi “Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund focuses on infrastructure to shift gears from management of shortages to handle surpluses”, said Mr Atul Chaturvedi, (IAS) during PHDCCI Video Conference While focusing on India’s upcoming potential to be world’s largest milk & dairy supplier, Mr. Atul Chaturvedi, IAS Secretary (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India), said that the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, worth Rs 15000 crores, has been set up with the objective of providing fund to FPOS, MSMEs Section 8 Companies and private dairy units to develop infrastructure, and bring about substantial improvement in processing and value addition to dairy and meat sector. The vision is to primarily shift gears from management of shortages to handling surplus in the Dairy sector. The fund will also work towards providing technology access to the dairy farmers to improve quality and yields. The declaration was made today, at PHDCCI, via video conferencing on Webinar on “Empowering Farmers, FPOS & Private Dairies for improving productivity & processing आत्मनिर्भरभारत. While highlighting the responsibility of every citizen of the country to support the clarion call of our Hon’ble Prime Minister of India to double farmers income and to make India आत्मनिर्भरभारत, Mr Chaturvedi stated that Dairy sector is the primary sector on rise and also an Atmanirbhar sector, as a farmer who keeps livestock will never be in distress. the sector has the potential to generate almost one million jobs in the coming times. Moving forward, showcasing the statistics of the engagement of 7 crore households in Dairy sector, he underlined the potential capability of the India’s white sector with a CAGR of 6% to 7% and to achieve the target of USD 5 trillion economy. Mr R S Dixit, Chair, Ananda Dairy highlighted in his presentation the challenges faced by the Dairy sector in India which will now be addressed by allotted AHIDF. It comprises of shortages of feed/fodder; Breeding system; education & training; health; hygiene conditions; marketing and pricing among others. He also mentioned about the challenges faced by the private dairies which includes lack of cold chain in rural areas; dairy expansion; processing infrastructure; marketing and pricing among others with a vision to fulfil the challenges by 2025. Prof (Dr) A. K. Srivastava, Member, Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board (ASRB) while focusing on the strength of the Indian Dairy, stated that despite the limited investments in the sector there is a continuous growth of 30% in the livestock sector. He also mentioned that training and technology advancement are the key pathways in achieving efficient production and growth of the sector. He requested the government to ensure that the gene bank of indigenous cattle and buffalo breeds need to be preserved and cross breeding should be done with caution. Detailing about the cooperative perspective, Mr R S Sodhi, Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Ltd., (AMUL) highlighted about the importance of organized sector in increasing farmer’s income. He further stated that doubling farmer’s income, incentivizing of exports and an organized sector can double its growth accompanied with an increased efficient production of stock by the farmers. Informing the delegates about the Private Dairy processing perspective, Dr R S Khanna, Chair, Kwality Dairy India Ltd suggested that a self sufficient model should be developed at for efficient procurement, processing and uniform production of milk among the districts. Mr Ritwik Bahuguna, Partner (Agribusiness) Wazir Advisors congratulated PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry for its successful awareness and organizing of such specific webinars. He reiterated that the sector is looking for an increase in production, enhanced processing levels increase in exports, safe & quality products and promoting entrepreneurship. He also mentioned that the other existing funds of the government will support the AHIDF. Discussing about the importance of Skill development, Dr Harsev Singh, CEDSI stated that AHIDF will help in incentivizing investments to increase milk processing capacity for creating value addition, generating access for organized sector and developing new avenues in entrepreneurship. He deliberated the importance of skilling and the need of acquiring competencies to remain relevant and employable in future. Dr D K Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his welcome address lauded the initiative undertaken by the government to provide significant cushion to the dairy sector in these tough times of the pandemic. This support will umbrella all sorts of aid revival, growth as well as contribution invigorated towards economic growth. He mentioned that the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund was a much needed and welcome step towards incentivizing private players to directly create an impact on the vision of doubling farmers’ income in the near future. In his remarks, Dr Aggarwal mentioned that scientific rearing of livestock and primary processing strengthened by linkages is the ONLY WAY to double farmer incomes. Mr. NK Aggarwal, Chair- Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, PHD Chamber in his introductory remarks said that the Government has been implementing several schemes for incentivizing the investment made by dairy cooperative sector for development of dairy infrastructure. However, the need of the hour is to promote and incentivize the MSMEs, Private companies and the FPOs involved in processing distribution and value addition. He reiterated that Fund will prove to be a boon for the sector if rightly implemented. Dr Ranjeet Mehta, Principal Director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry while moderating the webinar stated that it is now imperative for our country to focus on enhancing indigenous production and domestic capacity building through the initiative taken by the Government in order to be self reliant and going LOCAL TO GLOBAL. Ms Mallika Verma, Director- Agri-Buisness, PHDCCI gave a formal vote of thanks to the panellists and the delegates and took questions from the audience for the panellists. The Webinar witnessed participation of more than 150 delegates and was supported by Roots Foundation & Gopaljee Dairy Foods Pvt. Ltd. Ends Media Division PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry