CRYING OVER SPILT MILK

From 6.62 in FY18, India’s milk production growth rate has fallen sharply to 3.78% in FY24

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

India, the world's largest producer of milk, is seeing a slowdown in its rate of growth in production, latest data showed.

Annual milk production growth rate, which was 3.83 per cent in financial year 2023 (FY23), has slowed down to 3.78 per cent in FY24, though the country continues to remain the world's largest producer of milk at 239.3 million tonnes (mt). Milk production growth rate was 6.62 per cent in FY18, 6.47 per cent in FY19, 5.69 per cent in FY20, 5.81 per cent in FY21, and 5.77 per cent in FY22.

The drop in growth has raised alarm bells within a section of the industry, with some attributing it to structural challenges that the country's dairy sector faces while others linking it to a lingering-effect of Covid-led disruption in interventions such as artificial insemination and also poor monsoon in 2023.

Low rains are sometimes directly linked to lower milk production because good showers mean abundant availability of green fodder and also rise in production of other crops that go into the feedmeal. The data also showed that while in FY24 milk production from exotic and crossbred cattle rose by 8 per cent, that from indigenous and nondescript cattle increased by 45 per cent as compared to FY23.

However, milk production from buffaloes has gone down by almost 16 per cent in FY24 as compared to FY23.

Buffaloes (both indigenous and nondescript) contributed almost 45 per cent to the total milk production of 239.3 mt in FY24. A drop in buffalo milk output is bound to impact growth.

The fact that growth has slowed down for two consecutive financial years has raised concerns as to whether India's milk production is rising increasingly on the back of sheer number of cattle that it possesses while per animal milk yield is hardly growing.