New Delhi:Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Giriraj Singh on Tuesday said India is a global leader amongst dairying nations and produced 198.4 million tonnes of milk during 2019-20 adding that milk production has increased at an average annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent per year in the last six years.
Every year, the first day of June is observed as World Milk Day.
Chairing a virtual program organised on the occasion of World Milk Day, Mr Singh said the value of the output of milk is more than Rs 7.72 lakh crore during 2018-19 at current prices which is more than the value of the output of wheat and paddy together.
He also mentioned that milk production has grown at an average annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent per year during the last six years whereas world milk production is growing at the rate of 1.5 per cent per year.
''Our dairy sector provides livelihood support to 8 crore dairy farmers engaged in dairying mainly small and marginal and landless labourers,'' he said.
The dairy cooperatives of the country have the singular distinction of providing seventy-five per cent of their sales, on average, to the farmers, Mr Singh said.
Over 2 crore dairy farmers organised into dairy cooperatives and there are 1.94 lakh dairy cooperative societies collecting milk from milk potential villages, he said.