India to be part of global efforts on curtailing dairying impact on environment: Piyush Goyal
The central government has said that India would very much like to be part of global efforts to bring down the adverse environmental impact of farming, dairy or global emissions, given the fact that the country accounts for about 1/4 of global milk production with the largest cattle population.
Team RuralVoice
Greater Noida
The central government said on September 15 that India would very much like to be part of global efforts to bring down the adverse environmental impact of farming, dairy or global emissions, given the fact that the country accounts for about 1/4 of global milk production with the largest cattle population.
Addressing a session titled ‘Sustainable Dairy for Low Environmental Impact’ at the International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit 2022, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, said, “As a country, we would like more and more engagement amongst nations, and being the world’s largest producer of dairy, with nearly 1/4 of the world’s production coming from India, and perpetually, given the initiatives that the govt is taking, the cooperative sector is taking, the farmers are taking, I too believe the global share of production over the years will see a significant rise. Which is good for small and marginal farmers who hold nearly 300 moving stocks that we have in India, providing supplementary income and nutrition.”
“When we talk of quality standards and sustainability, India wants to engage with the world, we very much want to be part of this global effort to bring down the impact of farming, dairy or global emissions,” he said, suggesting the IDF to station a team in India to study the climate of various parts of the country, thereby finding out practical solutions to climate change that are relevant and applicable for small farmers.
Goyal said, “Of the 1.3 bn people, we have nearly 70 million families, particularly amongst the very small and marginal farmers, some having 2 or 3 acres of farmland and 2 or 3 cattle producing milk.”
As the Indian farmers worship their animals, Goyal said that the solutions that we all are looking for should be considerate of these aspects, adding that the developed world has totally failed as far as the action against climate change is concerned as the action on the ground is missing. “We are such a large country, but we barely contribute 3 per cent of GHGs,” he remarked.
Goyal also honoured the contribution of farmers and felicitated two marginal farmers as an impromptu gesture to the other nations that everything must be focused on small and marginal farmers.
The session was presided over by Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in the presence of IDF President Piercristiano Brazalle and Director General Caroline Emond.
