New Delhi: In a damage control move, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala on Friday said that the country will not import dairy products like butter and the supplies will be improved with the help of a huge untapped domesticsector.
Rupala’s statement comes even as his ministry’s top official had last week stated that the stocks of dairy products, especially butter and ghee etc., were lower than the previous year and the country might import if the need arises.
The ministry official had also said that the country’s milk production is estimated to be static in 2022-23 due to lumpy skin disease in cattle and a rebound in post-Covid-19 demand.
When asked about meeting the shortages of dairy products through imports, Rupala said, “There is no truth in it (shortage of dairy products). No import will take place.”
There is no shortage of milk in the country and the government is regularly monitoring, he said on the sidelines of the launch of two animal health initiatives.
Urging farmers and consumers not to worry about it, the minister said, “The demand has increased. We have a huge untapped area, we will try to tap that...We will manage it properly and there is no need to worry.”
On the rise in retail prices of dairy products, the minister said there is no need to worry about the prices. Farmers are getting good rates.
In 2021-22, India’s milk output stood at 221 million tonnes, while it was 208 million tonnes in the previous year, according to official data.
Last week, former agriculture minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar had written to the government urging it not to consider the import of dairy products, saying it will directly affect the income of the domestic milk producers.
India last imported dairy products in 2011. Earlier, Rupala launched two animal health initiatives — the Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (APPI) and the World Bank-funded Animal Health System Support for One Health (AHSSOH) in order to control zoonotic diseases transmitted from animals to humans.
The AHSSOH project of Rs 1,228 crore which is jointly funded by the World Bank will initially be implemented in Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.