Government has directed cooperatives to increase their share of milk procurement from farmers and has asked states to boost consumption by distributing it under various schemes like Midday Meal.
The milk cooperatives have also been advised to set a target of 2 per cent share in the World Trade by 2020. The food ministry has also been requested to consider inclusion of milk under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
These steps are being taken with the aim to double farmers’ income by 2022. About Rs 10,881 crore of financial assistance is being provided under Dairy Processing Infrastructure Fund (DIDF) to Milk Federations and Unions for the purpose.
The agriculture ministry has stated that the country has a stock of Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) of 1.16 lakh tonnes due to higher conversion and expected to increase to 2 lakh tonnes by the end of March 2018.
The total share of milk procurement by cooperatives is to be increased from existing 10 per cent to 20 per cent of milk production by 2022.