Centre to create digital database of livestock by April: RK Singh

The National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) is expected to be rolled out by April this year to create a technology-enabled and farmer-centric ecosystem, RK Singh, Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying,has said.

Besides creating a digital database of the country’s livestock wealth, NDLM will improve delivery of services to farmers and update them with information in time, Singh said in his inaugural address at the national seminar on the ‘Indian Dairy Industry — Vision 2030’ held at Thrissur.

The seminar is jointly organised by Milma, the Indian Dairy Association and the Department of Dairy Development. The NDLM is now underway in Uttarakhand on a pilot basis and will be rolled out throughout the country by April, Singh said, noting that this would be the world’s largest such programme.

The digitisation of livestock will help effective tracking, disease surveillance and information dissemination. This could be implemented easily in a State like Kerala, which has made good progress in tagging its livestock, he said.

Export potential

Noting that India is now the world’s largest milk producer, Singh said it is important to tap the export potential of dairy products to make the sector a major contributor to the national income and ensure handsome returns to farmers.

Increasing productivity, expanding the organised sector by bringing more farmers into co-operative networks are critical for the future growth of the dairy sector, Singh said.