The Kerala government has set a target of increasing the State’s milk production to 1 crore litres per day within the next three years, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Bindhu Krishna said at a regional seminar organised by the Dairy Development Department.
The Minister said the Dairy Development Department would need to address existing challenges to achieve greater self-sufficiency in milk production. She also called for the target to be achieved earlier if possible.
Among the measures highlighted by the Minister were efforts to regulate cattle-feed prices, expand fodder cultivation and attract more young people to dairy farming. The government also plans to make use of successful dairy models and technological advancements to improve productivity.
The target comes as Kerala continues to work towards closing the gap between domestic milk production and demand. In June 2026, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said Kerala was producing around 70.1 lakh litres of milk per day, while demand was estimated at approximately 86 lakh litres per day.
The latest target would therefore require a substantial expansion in production capacity and productivity. Kerala’s Dairy Development Department says the State is already working towards milk self-sufficiency, with its official statistics reporting annual milk production of 25.79 lakh metric tonnes in 2023–24, compared with 25.80 lakh metric tonnes in 2022–23.
Climate and feed availability are also emerging as important considerations for the dairy sector. Recent reports from Kerala have pointed to heat stress affecting cattle and reducing milk output, while the State has been promoting measures such as better fodder availability and farm-level interventions to manage heat conditions.
The Minister made the remarks during the concluding session of the southern regional seminar of the Dairy Development Department in Kollam. The two-day seminar covered Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and reviewed project progress, district-level achievements and future action plans.
Reports were presented by 58 block-level officers and five quality-control officers, with discussions covering dairy farmers’ welfare, sector development, productivity enhancement and milk quality control. Earlier regional seminars had been conducted in Kasaragod and Ernakulam.
Kerala’s Dairy Development Department is responsible for programmes covering dairy-sector development, farmer welfare, fodder development and milk quality control. The department also identifies strengthening the dairy cooperative sector as one of its key objectives.
Achieving 1 crore litres of daily production will therefore depend not only on expanding the number of dairy animals, but also on improving per-animal productivity, feed and fodder availability, climate resilience, farmer participation and dairy-sector infrastructure. The government’s three-year target places these areas at the centre of Kerala’s efforts to reduce its dependence on milk sourced from outside the State.
Source: Dairynews7x7 21 Sep, 2026 Read full story here
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