The key objective of this paper is to demonstrate what smallholders can do in the dairy sector given the right ecosystem. India’s story of the “white revolution” is a story that can inspire millions in
The West Assam Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Ltd (WAMUL) has increased the prices of its milk products by Rs 1.
Subodh Kant Sahai is a man known to have donned different hats. In charge of the ministry for food processing industries, he believes that the industry's growth is remarkable and real. In conversation with Justin Thomas, he speaks about how the sector would be a focus and the effects it will cast on rural India. What are the major infrastructure initiatives of your ministry?
>> South Australian authorities have found a cane toad in the capital city, Adelaide. They say the toad is a stray case and not an indication that cane toads have migrated to the state. They are
The City Beautiful will soon get a "milk village' to accommodate more than 27,000 cattle heads. The project will have three phases: in Maloya, Khuda Lahora and Makhanmajra villages.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will re-start distribution of tetra-packed flavoured milk among civic school students. To start from the academic year 2008-09, the scheme will now be optional for students. Launched in November last year, the civic body had discontinued the scheme about two months back after 42 students felt ill consuming the strawberry-flavoured milk. The packs distributed were initially of elaichi flavour, but later they switched to strawberry flavour. However, milk will now be distributed in flavours of chocolate, mango and elaichi. The decision to re-start the scheme was taken on Wednesday at the BMC Standing Committee meeting when the civic administration submitted its joint task force's final report after considering the findings of the the expert committee. The expert committee, which analysed the contents of the tetra-packed milk after the students fell sick in separate cases, found no chemical adulteration or bacterial presence in the samples. Addressing the standing committee, Additional Municipal Commissioner M Sangle said that there is no harm in re-starting the distribution system of flavoured milk. "From March 2008, students from class V to X will be given the milk, while those from class I to IV will get it from June,' he said. Acting on the expert committee report by Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of Nair Hospital, the civic administration has decided to reduce the quantity of milk for students of primary level. "Considering their digestive level, they will be given 125 ml of milk instead of 200 ml,' Sangle said. The BMC has awarded contract for distributing flavoured tetra-packs to Rashtriya Madhyawarti Mazdoor Grahak Sangh who would procure the milk from GK Dairy in Haryana. The dairy will supply 4.5 lakh packets daily. The 200 ml packet will cost of Rs 11. Standing Committee Chairman Ravindra Waikar said that since the quantity of milk in almost half the packs has been reduced by 75 ml (for the pre-primary students), the civic administration should discuss with the contractor about reducing their price. Sangle, however, said that it would not be compulsory for students to drink the milk. "We will also not force children to consume the milk. It will be optional. Only if they want, they will be given the packs,' Sangle said. The standing committee has also asked to create awareness amongst students, parents and teachers to avoid any untoward incident due to flavoured milk consumption, by display of posters on use of tetra-packs and straws.
The bulk milk-cooler units that have been established in the district with the aim of ensuring the quality of milk will be inaugurated by Kerala Minister for Food and Civil Supplies C. Divakaran at the Kozhipalli Milk Producers' Cooperative Society on Friday. The units have been installed under the Clean Milk Production Programme of the Union government, said T.P. Marcose, chairman of the Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, while addressing mediapersons at the Ernakulam Press Club on Thursday. "The Centre had sanctioned Rs. 2.2 crore to the district for the scheme. Under this, freshly-taken milk will be stored in the coolers that have been installed at different cooperative societies, thus ensuring the purity of milk. Seventy per cent of the milk produced in Ernakulam will be stored in these coolers that have generator back-up. Societies will also be given computers and electronic-weighing machines. Milma will bear the cost of maintaining the coolers.' The function will also see the inauguration of the marketing of a cost-effective milking machine developed by a society member.
If you thought a large glass of milk a day is essential for good health and strong bones, you could be mistaken. In a 20-page report released Thursday, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), stated that the unhygienic conditions of major dairies across India, may in fact make milk consumption hazardous to humans. The report
A row about milk quotas only confirms the idiocy of Europe's common agricultural policy AT LAST, say some European Union leaders, it is time for tough talk about the future of farming. Even the subsidy-mad French agree: a mid-term review of the common agricultural policy (CAP) is to begin during their stint in the EU's rotating presidency, later this year. It all sounds encouraging. Except for this: even as governments boast of tackling difficult reforms soon, France, Germany and others are trying to thwart an easy reform now that would let EU dairy farmers take advantage of soaring world prices. The row centres on the EU's milk quotas, which cap production in each country, with swingeing fines for producing too much. It offers a revealing, and depressing, case study. There may never be a less painful time to ease (or scrap) milk quotas. They were designed in 1984, when low market prices and high subsidies were filling EU warehouses with surplus "butter mountains' and mounds of milk powder, at ever greater cost to the EU budget. Liberal-minded types wondered naively if cutting subsidies might be an idea. They were outvoted by the farm lobby, which chose to curb production via quotas so as to boost prices. As an instrument, it was blunt
The challenge in working with environmental improvements is to select the action offering the most substantial progress. However, not all actions are open to all actors in a product chain. This study demonstrates how life cycle assessment (LCA) may be used with an actor perspective in the Swedish postfarm milk chain.
The government ought to defend the interests of the small producer international milk prices are spiralling, so one assumes now is a good time to be a dairy owner in India, the world's
