President Murmu stresses women’s role in dairy industry, calls for greater support

President Murmu also emphasized the need for easier loan access and market entry for women in the dairy sector. She noted that the dairy industry contributes about 5% to India’s GDP and supports approximately 80 million families, playing a crucial role in the nation’s food and nutritional security. “…Institutions like NDRI have an important role to play in the inclusive development of the country,” she added.

Acknowledging the cultural and traditional importance of cows and livestock in India, Murmu praised NDRI’s development of cloning technology for high milk-yielding cattle. She emphasized that this technology could boost milk production capacity and improve farmers’ income.

Despite India’s status as the world’s largest milk producer, challenges persist, including increasing milk product demand, fodder quality, climate change, and livestock diseases. Murmu underscored the importance of sustainable milk production and dairy farming, urging the adoption of environmentally friendly, climate-smart technologies that consider animal welfare.

“Making milk production and dairy farming sustainable is a challenge before us. It is the responsibility of all of us to develop the dairy industry by adopting environment-friendly and climate-smart technologies, keeping animal welfare in mind,” she added.

The president commended NDRI’s efforts to promote technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms and emphasized the institute’s focus on clean energy, such as biogas production.