India ready for ‘White Revolution 2,’ says National Dairy Development Board chairman Meenesh C. Shah

Stating that India is ready for the second ‘White Revolution’, Meenesh C. Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), on Saturday (October 11, 2025) underscored a need for the nation’s dairy sector to start focussing more on value addition and exports to increase margins and farmer incomes.

Mr. Shah was addressing a State-level seminar jointly organised by NDDB and the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) here to mark the UN-declared ‘International Year of Cooperatives’ observance and the diamond jubilee celebrations of NDDB.

White Revolution 2 involved strengthening dairy cooperatives across the country, and increasing milk procurement to more than 10 crore litres per day over the next four-five years by bringing more farmers into their fold, he said. “We have now started conceptualising White Revolution 2,” he said.

NDDB has kicked off initiatives with respect to breeding, health and nutrition for improving productivity which poses a major challenge in the sector, he said. Other challenges include tackling adulteration of milk and milk products and improving the share of the organised milk sector, according to him.

Despite the progress made by the dairy sector, 60% to 65% of milk in the country is still handled by the unorganised sector. NDDB is working with a vision to enhance the share of the organised milk sector from 65% to 70%, he said. Another thrust area is improving the share of value added products, he said.

Boosting incomes

For providing better income to the farmers for the same quantity of milk, it is important that cooperatives work towards a large share of value added products. Equally important is preparing the country’s dairy sector for the export market over the next ten to 25 years, Mr. Shah said. At present, India’s exports account for .5% of the global market, he said. The prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in India is a major hurdle that needs to be overcome when eyeing exports, he said, adding that vaccination programmes have ensured a reduction in FMD outbreaks.

Minister for Animal Husbandry J. Chinchurani, who inaugurated the seminar, said Kerala has the potential to become India’s largest milk producer. The State aims to attain self-sufficiency in milk production by slashing production costs and improving productivity, she said.

Milma chairman K.S. Mani, NDDB Executive Director S. Rajeev, chairpersons of the Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Unions Mani Viswanath and Valsalan Pillai, Dairy Development director Shalini Gopinath, Milma managing director Asif K. Yusuf and Kerala Bank chief executive officer Jorty M. Chacko were also present.