MILK PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT & DAIRY DEVELOPMENT

Module 14. Dairy development in India phases and schemes

Lesson 23
PIONEERING ROLE OF NATIONAL DAIRY DEVELOPMENT BOARD (NDDB) AND MILITARY DAIRY FARMS

23.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the activities of NDDB and Military Dairy Farms. It gives detailed description about the objectives and activities of NDDB as a pioneering institute engaged in developing the dairy sector of India.

23.2 National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)

NDDB is an autonomous body established by government of India in 1965. It got registered under the societies registration act and public trusts act. The Main purpose of establishing NDDB was to replicate the 'Anand Pattern' model in rest of the country. Anand Pattern is the term used for the model of cooperative dairy organizations developed in Anand of Gujarat. To carry out this function NDDB selects the milk shed area for developing cooperative societies and producers’ technical help to ensure its growth.

Inspired by the growth of dairy industry in Gujarat on cooperative lines, our Late Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji wished that similar type of growth should also be there in the other states of India. Due to his vision & wish, NDDB was established with its head quarter at Anand & under the chairman ship of Dr. V. Kurien.

23.2.1 Objectives

The major objectives of the NDDB are

1. To promote projects of general public utility relating to dairying, animal husbandry, food and agriculture, fisheries and cold storages.

2. To make available, on request, the information, skills and technical services needed to increase production of milk and dairy, technical inputs to speed up procurement, processing and distribution of milk.

3. To prepare initial feasibility studies and to design plan and start-up of operations.

4. To provide manpower services for dairy and allied projects by organizing technical programmes for training personnel.

5. To help in the selection of equipment and undertake bulk procurement services.

6. To offer consultancy services on dairy and allied operations in the field of planning and control including quality control, organization and marketing backed up, wherever necessary, by research within the NDDB and outside organizations.

7. To serve as international liaison to other National Dairy Boards and International agencies and to facilitate the exchange of information and personnel as also to assist other countries dairy development.

8. To conduct research in the field of dairying and animal husbandry.

23.2.2 Key roles played by NDDB

In the late 1960s, the NDDB built up its professional staff cadres to enable it to provide dairy projects design and implementation services. These services covered milk production processing and marketing, farmers' organization, dairy plant design and construction, manpower development and management consultancy services. The NDDB formulated an integrated Dairy Development programme in 1969, popularly known as Operation Flood.

The NDDB offers consultancy services and recommends suitable strategies to improve the performance of Dairy and allied operations. These include the preparation of master plans for different areas, feasibility studies, market research studies and in plant studies of dairy and cattle feed plants. The NDDB has conducted rural and urban household surveys to assess the impact of technical inputs made available under Operation Flood Scheme.

The NDDB has also been helping the IDC in monitoring the progress of Operation Flood Scheme. It has also worked on the development of systems related to milk production procurement, technical inputs; low cost cattle feed formulation, etc. The package service which the NDDB offers includes the creation of viable cooperative farmers' organizations with facilities for procuring, processing and marketing of milk and milk products. These cooperative organizations are also made responsible for marketing of technical inputs for enhancing milk production.

In order to carry out research and development in the field of animal husbandry and agriculture, the NDDB has identified some major areas, like, maintenance and enhancement of productivity of cattle and agriculture farm, production of high yielding cattle and crop seeds for farmers, adoption of modern techniques of agriculture and animal husbandry, and dissemination of knowledge gained in these fields, etc.

The NDDB's research and development activities also include product and process development. For undertaking such work, a laboratory has been established at Anand to carry out analytical work on milk and milk products.

The NDDB has developed facilities for imparting training to personnel at various levels. These training programmes are organized at four campuses of NDDB's Headquarters at Anand, Mansinh Institute of Training at Mehsana, Sabarmati Gaushala Project at Ahmedabad and Bidaj. For Practical training, microcenters are established in the nearby cooperative societies. For job training, the facilities of district milk producer's cooperative unions in the Gujarat State are utilized.

In order to train executive in Cooperative management and Integrated Rural Development, an Institute of Rural Management was set up at Anand by the NDDB with the help of the Government of India, the Government of Gujarat and the Indian Dairy Corporation. This Institute also provides consultancy services to cooperatives and other agencies engaged in economic and social development of rural communities.

23.3 Military Dairy Farms (MDF)

Government Dairy was established at Allahabad to supply milk and milk products to British army and military hospital. To meet the demand of milk for this dairy so as to produce milk and milk products for British force & their families, military dairy farms were established by the government. The first MDF was established in 1886 at Allahabad. These farms were operating on semi commercial lines to balance their profit and loss. MDF can be considered as first official move for organized dairy as they had a great influence on development of organized dairy in India. The MDF produced milk and various kinds of milk products viz. butter, cream, ghee etc for military personnel they also catered to the needs of some of the civil establishments such as civil hospitals, jails, etc. In total about 35 MDFS were established. The total Cattle population in this farm was about 20,000. The MDFs were under the administrative control of the director of military farms attached to the army headquarters. In most of the farms milking was done by hand. MDF provided practical training to the newly recruited staff on various aspects of dairying. They also provided technical guidance to other private outside agencies in the field of dairying. These farms carried out following functions: supplied dairy products to the armed forces, contributed to the improvement of cattle wealth in the country, supplied improved bulls to the community development projects, supplied one mouth old calves to the private breeders free of cost, Pioneered crossbreeding of cattle in India. All the surplus calves of 4 to 6 month of age were given away to the ministry of Agriculture.