INTRODUCTION
Livestock is a major source of livelihood for the world’s poor people, it is the main source of animal protein for the population. The global dairy industry helps to sustain the lives of people and their communities through the supply of products that deliver essential nutritional building blocks and through the provision of employment in both rural and urban communities. Today, the dairy world serves over seven billion consumers and provides a major livelihood for approximately one billion people engaged in dairy farming. The most successful factor in the dairy industry is the price the farmer receives from it. From the past recent years, it has been identified that the volatility of milk price is very high, which leads to a fluctuating revenue for the farmers around the globe. From milk to butter to cheese, ice cream and yogurt, dairy products are found in different forms across the world. It is being used and consumed in various ways throughout the divergent cultures of the world. The positives of dairy farming are many, and the quick yields from milk production serves as the main factor of attraction towards this sector. Thus, it is right to state that, the dairy industry plays an important role globally while considering the economy of a country, labor income, food security and the rural developments.
DAIRY INDUSTRY
India has emerged as the largest milk producing country in the world, with present level of annual milk production estimated at 94.5 million tonnes. India expects a production level of, 1355 million tonnes by the year 2015. India has a large livestock population base constituting 278 million livestock including 180.5 million cattle, 82.8 million buffaloes, 4 million sheep and 9.2 million goats. The livestock population is to increase to 322 million by the year 2015. The large livestock population is raised primarily on crop residues and grazing in the common property, including basement. The forest area, which was a major source of grazing, is no long available to livestock breeder’s especially landless people. As a consequence, the available feed resources fall short of the nutritional requirement. The shortfall is estimated as 59.9 million tonnes for the green fodder and 19.9 million tonnes for dry fodder. This shortfall is likely to increase by 2015 to 63.5 million tonnes of green fodder and 23.56 million tonnes of dry fodder.
DAIRY FARMING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The importance of Dairy farming in the economic development of any country, whether rich or poor, is borne out by the fact that it is the primary sector of the economy which provides the basic ingredients necessary for the existence of mankind and also provides most of the raw materials, which when transformed into finished products, serve as necessities of the human race. Dairy farming plays a most strategic role from several points of view. At a minimum, dairy products must be increased rapidly enough to keep pace with population growth. However, in a speedy industrializing economy. This is not enough. Industrialization necessarily brings with it urbanization and a rapid expansion of the industrial labor force. This may, then, be expected to bring with it a rising per capita of food and milk and dairy product based on higher urban income. In addition, dairy farming must generate export surpluses in order to earn the foreign exchange With which to finance the import of capital goods and certain kinds of industrial raw materials.
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