Lok Sabha Question No. 77 (STARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Desi Cow Varieties
Ministry: FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING
Asked by: S. Muniswamy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO.77 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 th

JULY, 2023

## DESI COW VARIETIES

## *77. SHRI S.MUNISWAMY:

Will the Minister of FISHERIES, ANIMALHUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING मत्स्यपालन , पशुपालन और डेयरी मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) the names of dairy product brands which have global recognition and are exported on large scale from the country;
- (b) whether the Government recognizes Nandini milk products as a brand that needs further to be boosted for its quality products and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of steps taken to promote and save Desi Cow varieties that seem to move toward sextinction; and
- (d) whether the Government is planning to undertake research and development in the Desi Cow varieties exclusively so as to arrive at a scientific solution to save and promote important varieties of Desi cows?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER FOR FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING

## (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION  NO.  77      PART  (a)  TO  (d)  ON  'Desi  Cow  Varieties  TO  BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2023

- (a) As  per  Agricultural  and  Processed  Food  Products  Export  Development  Authority (APEDA), the top five  (5) exporters of dairy products from  India are Gujarat CoOperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (AMUL), VRS Foods Limited,Sterling Agro  Industries  Limited,  R  K  Ganapathi  Chettiarand  Mahaan  Milk  Foods  Ltd. GCMMF (AMUL)  contributes    32%    share  in  value  of  export  of  milk  and  milk products during 2022-23.
- (b) Department of DAHD, GoI complements and supplements the efforts made by the States  for  dairy  development  (including  brand  development)  by  implementing following  Dairy  Development  schemesthrough  State  Milk  Federation/  Milk  Union across the country including Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF-Nandani Brand):
- i. National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD
- ii. Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund
- iii. Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations engaged in dairy activities (SDCFPO):

KMF has been marketing its dairy products under the brand name 'Nandini', which is a popular dairy brand in Karnataka and its adjoining States.

- (c) The  Department  of  Animal  Husbandry  and  Dairying  is  implementing  Rashtriya Gokul  Mission  for  development  and  conservation  of  indigenous  breeds,  genetic upgradation  of  bovine  population,amongst  others,  since  2014.  Some  of  the  major steps taken areas follows:
- I. Nationwide  Artificial Insemination  Programme  for  enhancing artificial insemination coverageincluding for indigenous breeds.
- II. Progeny  testing  and  pedigree  selection  programmefor  production  of  high genetic merit bulls including bulls of indigenous breeds.
- III. Establishment  of  Breed  Multiplication  Farms  preferably  of  indigenous breeds with 50% capital subsidy for eligible entrepreneurs.
- IV. Implementation of In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) for faster genetic upgradation of bovine population including indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes.
- V. Sex sorted semen production for bovine breeds includingindigenous breeds.
- VI. Establishment of Gokul Grams  for development and conservation of indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes.

In  addition  to  above,  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)-  National  Dairy Research  Institute  (NDRI)  aims  at  genetic  improvement  of  three  important  indigenous breeds of cows namely Tharparkar, Gir and Sahiwal. Semen of Indigenous Cattle bulls viz. Sahiwal, Tharparkar and Gir is preserved as well as sold to farmers.

- (d) The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Institute for Research on Cattle (CIRC), Meerut is working on the Indigenous Breeds Project (IBP) under the All  India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Cattle for propagation and genetic improvement of important desi cattle breeds like Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal. The  programme  promotes  the  rearing  of  Gir  and  Kankrej  breeds  of  cattle  in  the farmers' herds for higher milk production. Moreover, dissemination of frozen semen doses  of  these  breeds  to  inseminate  the  females  in  the  farmers'  herds  for  their extensive  propagation  has  also  been  done.  ICAR-National  Dairy  Research  Institute (NDRI) is also working on Tharparkar indigenous breed of cow, along with Gir and Sahiwal. Further, under development projects, compositional characterization, value addition  and  smart  packaging  solutions  of  the  traditional  milk  products  have  been prepared from the desi cow breeds.

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