Woes of milk farmers in India-Will the white revolution end up as "red" revolution?

Considering that milk from cow and buffalo provides a major source of vitally needed nutrients like high quality proteins, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, any adverse factors affecting the dairy industry will definitely impinge on the health of the population, especially in a country like India where substantial percentage of people are vegetarians by nature or by compulsions. Though India prides itself as the number one milk producer in the world, recent international developments are bound to tell upon the fortunes of the dairy sector especially the  dairy farmers. It is ironic that India's white revolution built on cheap imports of milk powder from Western countries is facing an acute crisis by the very fact that the country is producing surplus milk products with uneconomical export prices which collapsed by almost 60%! What are its consequences? Here is a take on this extraordinary situation. 

"ince April-May 2014,milk realisations for farmers have collapsed by around Rs 10 per litre. Maharashtra farmers are currently selling cow milk, with 3.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF (solids-not-fat) content, to private dairies at roughly Rs 16 per litre, compared to Rs 26 one-and-a-half years ago. During the same period, farm-gate prices in northern India for buffalo milk, containing 6.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF, have dropped from Rs 39-40 to Rs 29-30 a litre. The blame for this can be laid primarily on "global" factors. Prices of skimmed milk powder (SMP) at GlobalDairyTrade — the fortnightly online auction platform of New Zealand's Fonterra Cooperative, the world's No. 1 exporter — averaged $ 1,792 per tonne on Tuesday. The corresponding rate on April 1, 2014 ruled at $ 4,126 per tonne, which itself was below the record $ 5,142 for the same period the previous year. The above unprecedented global crash has done three things to India's dairy industry. First, it has brought exports to a standstill, with SMP shipments from the country plunging from a peak of 1.3 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 (valued at Rs 2,717.56 crore) to 34,490 tonnes (Rs 681.69 crore) in 2014-15 and a paltry 8,130 tonnes (Rs 155.73 crore) during April-November 2015. Second, low export demand has impacted domestic SMP prices too. These have declined from an average ex-factory level of Rs 240-250 per kg in April-May 2014 to Rs 140-150 now, even as fat (ghee) prices have remained stable at Rs 300-310 per kg. Lower powder realisations have affected the operations of private dairies — especially those in the North and Maharashtra whose revenues are mainly from commodities, as opposed to branded liquid milk sales. When SMP and ghee were selling at Rs 250 and Rs 300 per kg respectively, a dairy would have grossed Rs 3,270 or so from processing 100 litres (103 kg) of cow milk with 3.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF. After deducting Rs 300-350 of processing and packaging costs, they could pay up to Rs 2,950 for milk delivered at the plant. This price, at the farm-gate, would have worked out to about Rs 2,600 or Rs 26 a litre. But at Rs 140/kg for SMP and Rs 300/kg for ghee, the gross revenue from the same 100 litres of milk would be just over Rs 2,300. Netting out Rs 350 of processing-cum-packaging costs and an equal expense for transport of milk from the farm, thus, effectively leaves Rs 16 per litre — which is what Maharashtra's farmers are receiving today. Simply put, most private dairies with a predominantly commodity (powder and ghee) portfolio have responded to the global crash either by sharply slashing their milk purchase price or even discontinuing operations in the last one year.But the sharp cut-back in procurement by private dairies has resulted in a third outcome — diversion of the surplus milk to cooperatives, particularly in the western and southern states where they have a reasonable presence".  

It is unfortunate that milk producers are being put into lot of economic hardships because of the fall in procurement prices by the private dairy plants who are finding it hard to balance their balance sheets with such a low export price realization for the milk powder. The cooperative milk producers union set up in each state under the operation flood program however are still continuing to give the state decided procurement prices though the capacity of their plants are limited with many farmers compelled to go to private companies. In states like Karnataka the state government announced a bonus of Rs 4 per liter for those bringing in milk to the cooperative dairies, disbursement of this amount is irregular and uncertain. On the whole India dairy sector is going through tremendous strain and whether the country will lose the advantage of white revolution making the milk farmers some what well to do compared to traditional farmers cultivating the land. Governments at the center and states must take this as a serious crisis and come out with proactive policies to prevent large scale abandoning of dairying by the rural farmers leading to a huge potential distaster in the coming days.
           
V.H.POTTY
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RURAL HEALTH CARE-THE AMUL MODEL

Women and child development is a crucial area where Government of India has invested and continues to invest heavily though results at the ground level is barely perceptible. One of the major reasons for this lackluster development is lack of commitment on the part of the employees who are on the pay roll of the government to the cause, with the result there are cases of gross abuse of the system and the activity is present only on paper in most of the rural places in the country. Compare this with the program  of an NGO in Gujarat, initiated and supported by the redoubtable Amul cooperative of Anand that covers almost two million people and is a beacon of hope for half a million villages across the country. The enthusiasm of women and rural workers who operate the program is infectious and the country would have been much better of if thousands of NGOs working in different parts of the country had taken a leaf out of the this program in Gujarat state. Here is a tribute to the trio of Tribhuvandas Patel, Dr Kurien and Mr Dalaya, all not present now to see their vision come true, who were the founding fathers of India's much acclaimed white revolution for their vision and humane approach to the problems of rural India.    

"The premises of the Tribhuvandas Foundation (TF), a charitable organisation in Anand, Gujarat, are a hive of activity. In an open hall, surrounded by greenery, women are taking yoga and meditation classes to recover from post-natal issues. Mothers have come to pick up their infants after the morning session at the crèche. Expecting mothers are being checked and counseled by doctors. The foundation is an Amul initiative that provides healthcare to women and children in the villages of Kheda and Anand districts. "The most unique aspect of this programme is that it trains women to be self-reliant in dealing with healthcare issues in their villages," says Dr Viren Doshi, CEO of TF.There are two theories on how the foundation started. One version is that a moving statement made by a woman sowed its seeds; she wished she was born a cow because only then she would get the medical facilities provided by the dairy cooperative. "This inspired Tribhuvandas Patel to start TF. He was supported by Dr Kurien and HM Dalaya, who are considered with Patel the three pillars of the Amul revolution.  Another version is that when Dr Rajendra Prasad visited the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union ltd, well-known for fueling the white revolution, he is said to have remarked with amazement on seeing the mobile dispensary that he was amazed to see such facilities for livestock which are not available elsewhere for human beings. No matter, whichever version is true, today it touches the life of 16 to 19 lakh people in Gujarat, mainly women," Dr Doshi says. When Patel retired from the chairmanship Of KDCMPU, he was presented with a purse of six hundred thousand rupees, by the members of the village cooperatives—one rupee per member being the contribution. He used this fund with what he received as part of The Ramon Magsaysay Award, to start the Tribhuvandas Foundation for women and children. TF was registered as a public charitable trust in 1975 and started activities in 1980, with grants from National Dairy Development Board, Amul and UNICEF, and later from the Overseas Development Administration. It is now a Community health organisation, working mainly on reproductive and child health. "When TF started work, it was difficult to find qualified human resources in the dairy cooperative's area of operation. TF adopted the model of training women volunteers from the community to provide basic healthcare in the villages. Thus, it is a need-based program for villages run by the villagers themselves," explains Dr Doshi. The programme is dependent on three sets of people: the mobile medical core team of professional nurses and midwives backed by doctors, village health workers, who are trained for providing basic medical help, and village infant workers. The workers are trained to offer primary health care and health education door-to-door, in groups and at the Dairy Co-operative Societies Centres".

Some how India, as a country never realized the power of women and their immense talent and what the Tribhuvandas Foundation(TF) has done is to recognize this simple truth enabling them to empower the rural women to manage their own affairs with guidance, training and supportive efforts. It is conceded that Amul had the necessary infrastructure of health care for millions of milch animals belonging to the rural families and what it did was to augment the infrastructure with medical and paramedical personnel specialized in human development. Still what one can see to day in those villages where TP is operating presents a picture of self reliance which Mahatma Gandhi had envisioned for the country. If cooperative sector can do this why not the private industry which has the resources and wherewithal to replicate Amul's  rural development initiative? Industry bodies like FCCI, CII, ASSOCHAM and others must reconsider their policies on social front and follow the Amul route of rural development for creating a prosperous India by investing a portion of their corporate profits.

V.H.POTTY
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INDIGENOUS COWS VS HYBRID COWS-WHITE REVOLUTION'S UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES!

There are only a few investigative science journalist in India and some of their writings are truly informative and useful. In one of a recent writings by such a journalist it was dramatically revealed that India is mindlessly pursuing a program of replacing some of its native species of cows with hybrid varieties using massive insemination program under government tutelage. The operation flood started in Gujarat by late Dr Verghese Kurien also depended too heavily on hybridization and improving Buffalo population. No doubt buffaloes are high milk yielders and it makes sense from the farmer's view to buy a high yielding buffalo than a cow with lesser yield. But ignoring the other advantages of rearing local varieties of cows can have some serious consequences to Indian agriculture as being contended by this well respected writer. Here is the reference to her article which can be accessed from the web to understand her well thought out treatise.  

The reason, explains Hari Bhai who heads the foundation's desi cow project, is that sugarcane yields have seen a dramatic increase using cow dung from the indigenous variety of cows in Wardha. And indigenous cows are necessary for natural farming, which depends on cow dung and cow urine. Farmers have been earning up to Rs 7 lakh per acre and a yield of 80 tonnes in Wardha with natural farming. In contrast, the yield in farms in Uttar Pradesh is only 30 tonnes per acre. So, we are taking this concept to places where we are opening factories, so that sugarcane farmers get a good yield with minimum inputs, he says. Wardha farmers are being used as resource persons to teach natural farming to the Uttar Pradesh farmers. The farmers have been receptive, and in most districts, the concept is catching on, he says. The concept was first popularised by Subhash Palekar as "zero-budget farming". He has been going from place to place, teaching farmers the art of natural farming using cow dung from indigenous cows. Hari Bhai acknowledges Palekar's influence in the project, adding the latter is often consulted for the project. The Gir cows, which were once gifted to Brazil, have today become a huge chunk of the cow population in that country - as many as five million. Meanwhile, the total cow population in India, including indigenous and hybrid, is 190 million, of which 160 million are indigenous. India is seeing a steady decline in the number of indigenous cows. Between 1997 and 2002, there was a 10 per cent decline - leaving 185 million cattle. In 2007, they were further reduced to 160 million. The decreasing numbers are at the cost of genetic diversity and should concern as much as the fact that cows as a species are being fast overtaken by buffaloes, which were half the population of cattle on the last count.

The points raised in the above article deserve serious consideration by the scientific world and the policy makers because rapid declining of the gene pool of native cows can have disastrous consequences in a couple of decades' time, if adequate steps are not taken now. One may end up with a situation when native breeds can be found only in "Goshalas" maintained by Hindu religious organizations! It is unfortunate that in India every problem is tackled in isolation and lack of integrating them into a single policy never receives attention at the government level. If there were a holistic national policy on agriculture, livestock and food problems like the above would not have been neglected so long. With India becoming a top nation in milk production the earlier priority of increasing the yield can be moderated to accommodate the importance of native breeds who are a valuable ally of the farmer. 

V.H.POTTY

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VISION OF A SECOND "WHITE REVOLUTION"-IS IT ACHIEVABLE?

It speaks well of the visionary quality of the dairy sector planners in India if one listens to the bold declaration by the apex body National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) regarding its plans to strive for raising the country's milk production to a record 180 million tons by the year 2021-2022. NDDB has the necessary credentials to speak on the subject having taken the country to the top of the list of milk producing nations through its earlier Operation Flood programs. That the Board is not talking about the GM route or consumer unfriendly artificial bio-based hormone regime to achieve the goal is all the more praise worthy when many other countries are using them to achieve unheard levels of productivity amongst milch animals. Here is a take on the strategy enunciated by NDDB as orchestrated by its CEO recently.

Dr Amrita Patel, chairman, National Dairy Development Board, addressed the National Seminar on "Indian Dairy and Food Industry – Future Roadmap for Sustainable Growth" on September 24 at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, with some introspection on the dairy industry. Even though milk production had been increasing steadily, the demand for milk appeared to be increasing at a much faster rate. The increase in incomes and improved redistribution of such income in both urban and rural areas was fuelling this growth in demand, which did not seem to be significantly affected by increases in consumer price thereby confirming the growing purchasing power of urban households. "For low and middle income households, there should be an increasing concern over the rise in consumer price of milk, " said Dr Patel. The projected demand for milk by 2021-22 estimated at 180 million tonnes implied that milk production would have to be doubled and this would require India to increase its milk production (which has been growing annually at about 3.2 million tonnes over the last 15 years) to 6 million tonnes annually, without compromising on competitive advantage. The National Dairy Plan (NDP) had projected the organised dairy sector growing to handle about 65% of the marketable surplus by 2021-22 from the current level of about 30%.

Indian dairy industry is poised to develop dramatically in the coming years shifting the emphasis from pasteurized fluid milk to value added items like Cheese, Yogurt and milk powder based consumer products. The enormous opportunity afforded by the indigenous milk based products like khoa, chakka, paneer and down stream products based on them is yet to be tapped and organized R & D in this area needs further boost from organizations like NDDB and AMUL. Milk is by far the most balanced food, especially for a population starved of other animal based foods like egg, poultry, meat and fish mainly because of economic constraints and insufficient purchasing power. The innovative marketing strategy with fluid milk has enabled even for poorer populations to buy milk at Rs 5 in small sachets. Recent introduction of spiced Butter Milk in Tetra Pack units at comparatively low price is further proof that dairy sector can play a useful and constructive role as a health provider to millions of people in the country.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com