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HomePosts Tagged "Meenesh Shah"
Agrotech, Dairy, Live Stock, R&D

Laxmi is from a high genetic merit IVF embryo having the potential for the production of 35-40 kg milk a day.

NDDB Dairy Services (NDS) announced the birth of the first female calf ‘Laxmi’, under the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India’s Accelerated Breed Improvement Programme through IVF Embryo Transplant (ABIP-IVF-ET). The programme targets establishing two lakh pregnancies through the transplant of IVF embryos of high genetic merit to enhance the milk yield for dairy farmers.

The results of nine months of hard ground work which started with the transplant of IVF embryos in September 2022, have started coming in. Since the news of more births only seems to pour in, with 13 healthy female births confirmed to date. Laxmi is the first female calf born from the surrogate transplanted with an IVF embryo at Rajarambapu Patil Cooperative Milk Union Ltd., Islampur (Sangli), in Maharashtra. More than 250 births are expected in due course from cows and buffaloes whose pregnancies through IVF embryo transplants have been confirmed.

“Laxmi is from a high genetic merit IVF embryo having a potential for production of 35-40 kg milk a day, which is nearly double the average of the existing cattle owned by dairy farmers in this area,” said an exuberant Sushil Dilip Khot, the dairy farmer beneficiary who has just expanded his herd with the birth of Laxmi.

Meenesh Shah, NDDB & NDS Chairman, shared that the journey has not been easy. “When we initially started, the success rate with IVF embryo transplant was as low as 9 per cent, which today has reached, in some cases, up to 46 per cent. The success depends on the proper selection of the surrogates & its management, and there is still a lot of work required in the area.”

NDDB’s wholly owned subsidiary, NDS is one of the service providers identified by the DAHD, Government of India, for the execution of the programme. NDS last year kicked off the implementation on September 22 from Islampur in Maharashtra, said a Company spokesperson.

The NDS team have been working relentlessly for over a year and has already scaled the programme to 15 milk unions in six states, i.e. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Since September 2022, the team so far has transferred 1,436 embryos, out of which 1,211 have been examined for pregnancies. During the current financial year, embryo transplant activity will be scaled up, and another 3,000 IVF embryo pregnancies are expected to be established.

The choice of breed of the embryo to be transplanted lies with the farmer, and the gender-sorted IVF embryos of about 6 indigenous cattle and 1 buffalo breed have been used to ensure that 90 per cent of calves born are female. As the calves will have none of the characteristics of the surrogate, the potential of producing milk goes up to 15-20 kgs from Gir and Sahiwal breeds of cows and 20 kgs from the Murrah buffalo breed, the NDS spokesperson said.

Laxmi is from a high genetic merit

Dairy, India, Live Stock, Sustainability

The dairy farmers took the pledge and thanked the Government for outlining the way forward by giving them the cherished goal of making the country a global leader

On the occasion, the dairy farmers members of 22 Milk Producer Companies (Farmer Producer Organisations which embody principles that are similar to Cooperatives) came together and committed themselves to: ‘Make India Dairy of the World by increasing India’s share of the total world production’; ‘Provide quality milk and milk products to consumers by sourcing milk even from the remotest part of the country’; ‘Provide a competitive price to farmer members through a fair and transparent process of milk collection and making payments in their respective bank accounts’ and ‘Increase milk productivity through breed improvement programs and better animal management practices’. 

Meenesh Shah, Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and it is subsidiary NDDB Dairy Services, which is at the forefront of driving India’s efforts towards an apex global position in milk production, said, ‘The world dairying community only months’ back paid rich tributes to rural India and dairy farmers at the World Dairy Summit 2022. We are part of this proud community of milk producers and are working on numerous initiatives for enhancing production and productivity in India towards making the dream of the Prime Minister a reality.’

In colourful events from distant Tirupati to coastal Gujarat to the spreads of Rajasthan to the hinterlands of UP and Bihar, the dairy farmers took the pledge and thanked the Government for outlining the way forward by giving them a cherished goal of making the country a global leader to attain the target of 33 per cent market share in the decade to come. 

It is pertinent to note that India’s collective drive towards ‘Dairy of the World’ has women empowerment ingrained into it, as out of 22 Milk Producer Companies supported by NDS, 15 have all-women membership and all the Producer Directors on their Boards too are women. These 22 MPCs spread across 130 districts in 9 states of the country, have 8.7 Lakh members and 71 per cent of them are women. 

The dairy farmers took the pledge and

AgroPolicy, Dairy, India, Live Stock

Uttar Pradesh government launched ‘Mahila Samarthya Yojana’ (MSY) in the budget of 2021-22 to promote producer-owned enterprises exclusively owned by women

Uttar Pradesh government has mandated NDDB Dairy Services (NDS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to promote women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship by setting up women-owned milk producer companies to harness the dairying potential of UP’s 17 districts. A milk producer company is a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) which embodies principles that are similar to Cooperatives.

Encouraged by the results of Balinee Milk Producer Company, Jhansi and Kashee Milk Producer Company, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh government launched ‘Mahila Samarthya Yojana’ (MSY) in the budget of 2021-22 to promote producer-owned enterprises exclusively owned by women and had allocated an amount of Rs. 200 Crore in the budget. Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh praised Balinee as a model organisation for women during last year’s IDF World Dairy Summit 2022.

The project will be anchored by UP State Rural Livelihood Mission and the technical support will be provided by NDS. Under a collaborative agreement between UPSRLM and NDS, 3 women Milk Producer Companies (MPCs) have been incorporated, namely, Saamarthya Milk Producer Company, Raebareli; Baba Gorakhnath Kripaa Milk Producer Company, Gorakhpur and Srijanee Milk Producer Company, Bareilly which will together procure milk from over 2,800 villages of 17 districts enrolling 1.50 lakh women dairy farmers and procuring over 7 lakh litres of milk per day by the fifth year of operations. 

On the initiative, C. Indumathy, State Mission Director, UP SRLM said, “MSY is a path-breaking scheme of the U.P. government to promote women empowerment through skilling of rural women and supporting their entrepreneurship. Since its announcement, GoUP has earmarked a substantial outlay towards the implementation of the scheme and we are progressing well. UPSRLM, by using the expertise of NDS, is aiming at not only promoting women’s entrepreneurship in rural UP substantially but also bring about a fundamental change in the lives of these women and their families, thereby realising the vision of Yogi Adityanath Ji – Empowered woman makes the state power.”

Meenesh Shah, Chairman, of NDDB & NDDB Dairy Services said, “Uttar Pradesh is the second largest milk-producing state in the country, however, the state still has a large untapped potential and focused interventions in the State through producer-owned enterprises can immensely contribute to realising the Government’s vision of ‘Making India Dairy for the World’. This initiative of bringing together the women dairy farmers will not only provide market access and livelihood to women farmers but will also unleash the entrepreneurship potential of women belonging to the targeted 17 districts which are predominantly rural.”

Uttar Pradesh government launched ‘Mahila Samarthya Yojana’

Company News, Dairy, Environment, India, Live Stock, Sustainable Energy

This collaborative effort will promote biogas plants and create a value chain that will improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers

NDDB Mrida, a wholly owned subsidiary company of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) signed an agreement with Sistema.bio, India’s leading biogas company, to work with smallholder dairy farmers, provide sustainable solutions in waste-to-energy, and open avenues of generating additional income for farmers. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB & NDDB Mrida and Piyush Sohani, MD, Sistema.bio India graced the occasion. 

The primary objective of this partnership is to improve the socioeconomic stature of dairy farmers, particularly smallholder women dairy farmers, through the usage of biogas plants. Sistema bio through carbon financing will provide affordable modern flexi biogas plants to dairy farmers in NDDB’s rural network. 
The plan is to reach out to more than 25,000 farmers with biogas plants this year, with a vision to serve 3,00,000 dairy farms in the coming 2-3 years. NDDB Mrida will also promote the usage of bio-slurry produced directly or as an organic fertilizer through the sale of slurry-based products for agriculture in an enterprise mode. 

NDDB Mrida and Sistema bio will jointly work with dairy cooperatives, dairy federations, milk producer organisations and other farmer-centric institutions to install modern flexi biogas plants for small and medium dairy farmers of India and disseminate knowledge about the same and about manure management and bio-slurry applications as well.
This collaborative effort will promote biogas plants and create a value chain that will improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers and at the same time contribute towards the Swachh Bharat Mission and encourage the generation and use of green energy. NDDB has first-hand experience working with Sistema Bio while developing the Zakariyapura Manure Management Model, which is now part of the Gobardhan Scheme in Gujarat. 
This partnership perfectly synergises the capabilities and focus of both organisations. This initiative will successfully help promote organic manure leading to a reduction in the usage of chemical fertilizers as well as endorse clean cooking energy at the rural household level. At present, 40,000 farmers use biodigesters developed by Sistema bio to create value from waste.

This collaborative effort will promote biogas plants

AgroPolicy, Dairy

IDF Dairy Innovation Awards will be held on September 12

International Dairy Federation (IDF) World Dairy Summit 2022, the most coveted event of the dairy sector, will be organised in India’s New Delhi-NCR from September 12-15, 2022 in which dairy stakeholders from all over the world would participate. This was informed at a curtain raiser event in New Delhi.

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr Sanjeev Balyan expressed his delight over India hosting the World Dairy Summit after 48 years. Furthermore, Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said the World Dairy Summit is the first physical summit post-Covid by the International Dairy Federation.

“We will get the benefit of the experience of the International Dairy Federation and the world leaders on dairy who will come to India and the country will benefit by learning from them what they do for the dairy sector and it will also be a great opportunity for India to showcase its achievement in the dairy sector,” added Shri Chaturvedi, who is also the Chairman of the IDF-Indian National Committee.

Piercristiano Brazzale, the President of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), “IDF cares about all the dairy chain and we give all science-based support to the dairy sector. The summit this year will witness the participation of technicians and experts from across the world.”

“I want to announce the new IDF Dairy Innovation Awards. The awards will be given on September 12 – the first day of the World Dairy Summit 2022. We will give the awards in 12 categories. You will find all the details on our website i.e. https://idfwds2022.com, and you can also register till the 1st of July,” he added.

Caroline Emond, Director General, IDF, said the World Dairy Summit will be a great opportunity for dairy farmers, leaders, experts, scientists, professionals and academics to connect and get inspired. “India’s success story will be shared with the world through the World Dairy Summit where we can see how dairy is an engine of development and women empowerment in India.”

Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board and the Member Secretary of the Indian National Committee of IDF, said the dairy sector is the most important sector to boost the rural economy of India as it provides livelihood opportunities to about eight crore farmers that is why World Dairy Summit is significant to the stakeholders in India.
Not only the farmers but even the landless farmers are linked with dairy. Milk is an important means of livelihood in our country, Shah said.

Shah, who is also the member secretary of the IDF Indian National Committee, informed that the theme for the summit is “livelihood and nutrition” as the farmers in our country derive a livelihood from animal husbandry and dairying activities.”

Shah mentioned, “After the inauguration on the first day of the World Dairy Summit, we will have a special session for the farmers as farmers are our focus area.”

IDF Dairy Innovation Awards will be held