Dairy Industry in India: The Sustainability Challenge

India is the leading producer of Milk in the World producing nearly 176.27Mt of milk in 2017 as per
FAO statistics. This accounts for roughly 21.32 % of the milk production of the world (Exhibit 1). India
is also home to the largest number of cattle in the world numbering around 190 Mn heads in 2012
itself. India was also home to about 109 Mn buffaloes. (Exhibit 2)

Globally almost 150 Mn households are engaged in Milk Production making it a very important source
of employment and income to a large proportion of Households in the World. (NDDB website)

In recent decades developing countries have increased their share in global production. This growth
is mostly a result of the increase in the number of animals and not productivity per head of cattle.
There are many reasons advanced for the low dairy productivity including but not limited to poor-
quality feed resources, diseases, limited access to markets and services such as health, credit and
training amongst others. Most of these animals are considered to have low genetic potential for milk
production as well.

(Source: FAO Stat: http://www.fao.org/dairy-production-products/production/en/)

As per a research by Faye and Kanuspayeva (2012), about 16% of the dairy requirement of the world
is met by non-cattle milk and this is more prominent in localized regions located in emerging and
developing economies. They believe this could be a great way ahead for the sustainability of the
industry and meeting the rising demand for dairy products. (FAO website).

Also, the dairy sector is often criticized for being a resource guzzler and impacting the sustainability of
the planet in the worst possible way. A study by Irfan and Mondal (2016) conducted by the Madras
School of Economics claimed that the water intensity of milk production using indigenous cows is
308.2 and that of production from a crossbred cow is 261.61. This poses a serious threat to the
freshwater resources of the country as the dairy industry has traditionally done better in water-scarce
areas such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and drier parts of Karnataka rather than the water-rich parts of
Odisha and West Bengal. Different studies as reported by Thakur et. al. (20) have found the water
footprint of the dairy industry to varying from 0.73 cubic meters per Kg of milk to as high as 4.86 cubic
meters per kg for buffalo milk produced in Kerala.
The Dairy Industry has also been known to be a crisis creator with respect to its carbon footprint. A
study conducted in Anand district of Gujarat calculated the Carbon Footprint of Milk production on
total allocation to milk as 2.6 Kg CO2eq./ Kg FPCM. If the same is allocated across different products
the carbon footprint of milk reduces to 1.7 Kg CO2eq./ Kg FPCM. This could mean a serious dent given
the number of cattle and the amount of milk produced in India.

A task force has been created by the government of India and the team includes Dairy ministers of
some important dairy states, the CEOs of India’s leading cooperative and private dairy companies and
representatives of cooperative dairies from village to state levels and NGOs that work for
sustainability. As chairperson of the task force you have to prepare a future strategy roadmap for India
vis-à-vis the dairy industry such that the economic objectives of the state may be realized while trying
to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Promised by India to the UN. You are required to craft
out a detailed plan which may include the change in dairy-producing regions, breeds, feed, animal
husbandry practices, and also milk collection, production processing, and distribution processes and
practices. However, it seems an uphill task to satisfy the milk producers on one hand (they are reeling
under falling milk prices and prospects of cheap imports under RCEP) and the international community
which is watching India with utmost care for meeting the SDG targets and containing the global
temperature increase to below 2 degrees.
EXHIBIT 1
 EXHIBIT 2

(Source - https://www.nddb.coop/information/stats/across)
(Source: NDDB website)