Sharad Pawar for promoting dairy cooperatives in North East

NEW DELHI: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar emphasised the need to promote dairy cooperatives in the North East region and stated that the Centre will extend support to states in developing the animal husbandry sector.

"Despite excellent efforts made, average productivity of dairy animals of North Eastern region is still the lowest in the country. ...The Government of India will supplement efforts of state governments for quality inputs in this sector," Pawar said addressing an event at Gangtok.

Sharing the success story of dairy cooperatives, the Minister emphasised the need to promote setting up of a network of dairy cooperatives in the North Eastern region to boost production of quality milk.

Developing the dairy sector would not only lead to better nutrition for residents of the region but also supplement household income of the rural poor, he said in a statement.

He also informed that the value of output from animal husbandry is higher than the value of output from wheat and sugarcane put together.

As many as 15 million farmers are organised under the ambit of 1.5 million village-level dairy cooperative societies in the country, he added.

Assuring the North Eastern states of central assistance, Pawar said the Centre will support the States in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) through schemes such as National Programme of Bovine Breeding and Dairying (NPBBD), the World Bank-aided National Dairy Plan and Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme.

The animal husbandry sector has been among the few growth generators in rural areas and has contributed to 32 per cent of agri-GDP in the country, he said.

Sikkim's Governor Shriniwas Patil and Chief Minister Pawan Chamling also addressed the conference.

With milk production peaking 132.43 million tonnes in 2012-13, India is the largest milk producer in the world.