Dairy sector needs to focus on innovation,dairy experts at CII AgroTech 22

Various stakeholders from the Indian Veterinary Association and private companies on Saturday participated in the discussion on sustainable dairy and livestock management practices as part of a special conference on Day 2 of the CII AgroTech 2022.

Speaking at the 15th edition of the premier agri and food technology fair, Ajooni Biotech Limited chairperson Gurmeet Singh Bhatia said, “Livestock contributes to 40% of global agriculture output. Over 70 million farmers are directly involved in dairy farming. We are here to exchange ideas on achieving sustainable diary management.”

Highlighting India’s abundant genetic resources for dairy animals, both in terms of population and diversity, he added knowledgeable farmers will set an example for those not ready to accept change.

Rick Nobel, agriculture attache, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in his address, said, “Dutch companies are working on QR codes in India to bring more awareness among consumers of the milk’s place of origin.”

Thyssenkrupp Limited’s Pranatharthiharan Natarajan, meanwhile, focussed on alternatives to pasteurisation of milk, saying, “High pressure processing lacks implementation in India, it does not kill the nutrients and does not change the taste. This will also help India’s efforts at export as this technology takes the shelf life of liquid milk to 45 days.”

Bhatti Daintech Dairy Development Centre chairperson Jaswinder said integrating technology in dairy farming was the need of the hour.

“Farmers face difficulties in tracking their livestock data. We have built a software in which we place sensors through radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that are placed on livestock’s neck to track them.”

Haryana agri minister interacts with stakeholders

Haryana agriculture minister Jai Parkash Dalal also visited the CII Agro Tech 2022 on Saturday.

The minister said Haryana was a major stakeholder in the exhibition, which is a great platform for the exhibitors to showcase the best quality seeds, pesticides, technologies, produce, machinery and other agriculture related products.

“This platform offers instant benefits to farmers as they can see the output of the seeds, discuss use of pesticides with the exhibitors and get their hands on other farm related things without following the process in the farms to yield profits,” he said.

Dalal also interacted with the stakeholders at the special session on the role of FPOs in horticulture.