India has become the world’s number one milk
producing country, with output in 1999-2000 forecasted
at 78 million tonnes. India’s annual milk production has
more than trebled in the last 30 years, rising from 21
million tonnes in 1968 to an anticipated 80 million tonnes
in 2001.
This rapid growth and modernization is largely credited
to the contribution of dairy cooperatives, under the
Operation Flood Project, assisted by many multi-lateral
agencies, including the European Union, the World Bank,
FAO and WFP.
In the Indian context of poverty and malnutrition, milk
has a special role to play for its many nutritional
advantages as well as providing supplementary income
to some 70 million farmers in over 500 000 remote
villages.