India tops the chart in Global Milk production with 209.96 million tonnes milk produced in 2020-21

By: Yash Gupte

India has come a long way in the field of Milk Production as today India ranks 1st in milk production globally. According to field experts, Milk production is one of the most important tool through which the global hunger can be brought down significantly.

India has come a long way in the field of Milk Production as today India ranks 1^st in milk production globally. According to field experts, Milk production is one of the most important tool through which the global hunger can be brought down significantly. Milk is produced in almost all the inhabitable parts of the world through different lactating animals like cow, buffaloes, goats, camels and etc. At the time of India’s independence, India was not self-sufficient in milk production. Post-independence, India adopted various methods and schemes to scale up the production of milk and beat hunger. After observing the enormous success of the Green Revolution, which led to a significant rise in the production of wheat and rice, the Indian government launched Operation Flood, also known as the White Revolution. The goal of India's "white revolution" was to increase milk production and turn it into one of the largest milk-producing nations in the world.

The White Revolution aimed at removing the intermediaries and it established a national milk grid that connected farmers all across India to consumers in more than 700 towns and cities, decreasing seasonal and regional price differences while ensuring that the farmers receive a significant portion of the profits. White Revolution is the reason that India has been able to achieve this milestone and become the top producer of milk in the world. Dr. Varghese Kurien is known as the father of milk production in India. He was the chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The NDDB launched a programme called ‘Operation Flood’ to increase the pace of White Revolution. Within 30 years, Operation Flood helped double milk available per person in India, making dairy farming India's largest self-sustainable rural employment generator. The mass success of White revolution in India can be attributed to the AMUL (Anand Milk Union Limited) or the Cooperative model. Since the 1970s, most of the expansion in milk production has been in South Asia, which is the main driver of milk production growth in the developing world.

The chart below shows the growth of milk production in India over the years.

Source: Press Information Bureau

The data clearly shows that the milk production in India has been increased around 3 times in the last 20 years from 80.6 million tonnes in 2001 to 209.6 in 2021. India contributes around 23% of global milk production. One of the most important things which need to be taken into consideration is the per capita availability of milk in India which has been continuously increasing over the years. In 1951, the per capita availability of milk was only 130/g per day which has increased to 427/g per day in 2021 making India self sustainable and the largest contributor in global milk production.

The chart given below provides insights on the milk production in India from 2015-16 to 2021-22.

Source: Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying 

Milk production is among the very few sectors which remained unaffected during the covid-19 pandemic. In Global milk production, India is followed by USA, China, Pakistan and Brazil. The countries with the highest milk surpluses are New Zealand, USA, Germany, France, Australia and Ireland while the countries with the highest milk deficits are China, Italy, the Russia, Mexico, Algeria and Indonesia.

India has been able to make a remarkable footprint not only in milk production but in Horticulture too. In the year 2020-21, India had the highest Horticulture production of 329.86 million tonnes. The increase in production has been registered in vegetables, spices, medicinal and aromatic crops. The production of fruits stood at 102.76 million tonnes in 2020-21 and the production of vegetables shot up to 196.27 million tonnes which has 4.42% higher than the previous year. This has helped India in being a major exporter of horticulture goods.