India using innovation and digitization for dairy development: NDDB Chairman at FAO
Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), presented India’s smallholder dairying system to global experts and shared experiences of using innovation and digitization for dairy development at the Science & Innovation Forum 2022 organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy.
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Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), presented India’s smallholder dairying system to global experts and shared experiences of using innovation and digitization for dairy development at the Science & Innovation Forum 2022 organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. This was stated in an NDDB press release today.
On the sidelines of the World Food Forum, the NDDB Chairman met FAO’s Deputy Director-Generals Beth Bechdol and Maria Helena Semedo and also Thanawat Tiensin. He discussed with them the Indian smallholder farming system, sustainable livestock production systems and innovations. During the meetings, the opportunities for working together in the area of dairy development were discussed. Shah also proposed jointly organizing an international symposium as part of the G20 presidency of India.
During the session titled 'Harnessing science and innovation for sustainable livestock sector transformation', Shah spoke on 'Technological innovation in support of small-scale dairy producers in India'. He elaborated on India's transformational journey from milk deficiency to becoming the world's largest milk producer. He said that India contributed 23 per cent of global milk production with about 6 per cent annual growth rate. These have been made possible through innovations — technological, scientific, processes and, more importantly, bringing people together and building a governance structure.
The NDDB Chairman NDDB said that the focus was on digital ecosystems like Information Network for Animal Productivity & Health (INAPH), the national database in which over 230mn animals are registered, and National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) having components like traceability, disease surveillance, and control programmes.
Shah further said that the manure (cattle dung) management initiatives being undertaken by NDDB with partner organizations have proven to be quite successful by way of providing cooking gas to meet household needs, income from the sale of bio-slurry, solid and liquid organic fertilizers improving soil fertility and at the same time reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This initiative is also being furthered by setting up large-scale biogas plants which would meet the energy needs of the dairy plants.
Thanawat Tiensin, Director, Animal Production and Health Division, FAO; Chandapiwa Marobela-Raborokgwe, Director, National Veterinary Laboratory, Botswana; Carlos Cherniak, Permanent Representative of Argentina and Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture’s (COAG) Sub-Committee on Livestock; Halimatou Kone Traore, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mali to the FAO and Vice-Chairperson of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock; Iain A Wright, Deputy Director General – Research and Development – Integrated Sciences, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); and Donald Moore, Executive Director, Global Dairy Platform also participated in the Forum.
