Description

Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed the most important role in providing employment and income generating opportunities particularly for women and marginal farmers. The per capita availability of milk has reached a level of 296.5 grams per day during the year 2012-13, which is more than the world average of 294 grams per day. Most of the milk in the Country is produced by small, marginal farmers and landless labourers. About 15.1 million farmers have been brought under the ambit of 1,55,634 village level dairy corporative societies up to March 2013. The cooperative milk unions have procured an average of 32.8 million kgs of milk per day during the year 2012-13 as compared to 28.7 million kgs in the previous year recording a growth of 14.3 per cent.