Milk output seen rising to 139.68 mt this year

The Government expects milk production to increase to 139.68 million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14, up 5.5 per cent over last year’s 132.43 mt.A quantity of “139.68 million tonnes of milk production is anticipated in 2012-14,” the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Charan Das Mahant, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Milk production increased steadily from 116.4 mt in 2009-10 to 132.43 mt in 2012-13.The Animal Husbandry Dairying and Fisheries Department does not control the price of milk, Mahant said.It is implementing schemes such as the National Dairy Plan Phase I and Intensive Dairy Development Programme to enhance production of milk, which also contributes to stabilising milk prices. The NDP Phase I is being implemented for six years from 2011-12 to 2016-17 in 14 major milk producing States to help increase productivity of milch animals and, thereby, increase milk production.