I wish to draw your attention to an uncommon publication that promises
to impart a new thrust to dairying — the base of rural development
in general and landless farmers in particular to help overcome poverty.
In the rural sector, some 70 million farmers annually produce over
80 million tonnes of milk. As the world's
largest milk producing country, India has given a lead in uplifting
village milk producers through a unique model of cooperative dairying.
From time immemorial, the foundation of our milk production has
been in hands of the landless farmers in villages. At the same time,
the processing of milk into dairy products has been handled by millions
of village "halwais" and their street-corner counterparts
in towns and cities. These two groups form the core of the traditional
dairy sector, the largest and fastest growing sector of Indian dairying.
The value of its products exceeds Rs. 50,000 crores per year.
One weak link in the otherwise sound growth of dairying has been
the general neglect that the traditional milk processing methods
has received from the modern sector. However, in the past three
decades, considerable R&D work has been done to bring about
the much-needed value addition in the making of these age-old milk
delicacies.
The upgrading of the age-old processing methods
through the application of science and technology offers an exciting
scope for transforming this sector. Motivated
by this vision of challenging prospects, a group of four dairy professionals
got together to document India's experience in modernizing the production
of our indigenous milk products. They have jointly authored the
first of its kind handbook on the Technology of Indian Milk Products.
A volume of 482 pages, this handbook serves
as a guide to help modernize the traditional dairy sector.
At the same time, it also meets the demand for scientific data, market
prospects and technical information needed for developing new strategies
by planners, professionals, managers, technologists, scientists, extension
workers, entrepreneurs and others. Thus, the
handbook will help the all-round development of this non-organized
sector on scientific lines with due weightage to safety, hygiene and
quality of dairy products manufactured.
It will also help rural development, fight poverty, overcome malnutrition
and provide productive work for rural farm hands.
You may kindly bring this just-released handbook
to the attention of the Secretaries in the State Animal Husbandry
& Dairying Departments, the State Cooperative Dairy Federations/Unions;
the subordinate offices/units in the field under your kind control
and other appropriate institutions.
Binoo Sen, Secretary, Ministry
of Agriculture, Dept of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Govt of
India
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| To
Develop Training Material |
| This handbook serves as
a resource base for developing training materials. |
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