VKCoE, IRMA, organised Training program on Reducing Carbon Footprint
Verghese Kurien Centre of Excellence (VKCoE) organized a management development programme (MDP) on “Reducing Carbon Footprint in Dairy Plants to Increase Operating Profits” between 2 and 5 August 2022 in IRMA. Seventeen dairy professionals from different milk unions from India participated in the programme. The objective of this training programme was to help dairy professionals and decision makers in aligning their dairy operations with the best in the country to reduce carbon footprint.
The four-days programme involved interactive sessions by resource persons from VKCoE, IRMA, Amul Dairy and NDDB. The programme was coordinated by the VKCoE Chairperson – Dr. J. B. Prajapati and Prof. Hitesh Bhatt. Shri Amit Vyas, Managing Director and Dr. Gopal Shukla from Amul Dairy and Dr. Bhupendra Phondba from NDDB lent their expertise for the benefit of the participants over four days. Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB interacted with the participants and encouraged the dairy industry to adopt measure to make carbon neutral diary sector by 2050. Various sessions were focused at giving practical information on reducing GHG emissions at farm gate by adopting measures like breed selection, farm management, balanced feed and TMR, manure management, etc. At the processing plant, discussions were held with practical examples of energy savings, efficient processing, monitoring measures, water and waste water management, value added products, digitalization and so on.
Besides the expert sessions, the participants were taken on field visits to Amul dairy plant to personally observe the measures that helps in reducing carbon footprint. They visited a modern farm setup by Amul apart from Munjkuva village model on gobar management setup by NDDB. They saw Sudhan, manure management plant at Vasna too.
The field visits gave the participants a practical view of modern and alternative technologies in reducing carbon footprint in production and processing related activities. Reducing carbon footprint of a dairy can help in improving the technical, financial, and operational efficiency and, thus, will lead to higher operating profits. The training ended with a debriefing and feedback session from all the participants.