Milk Village: An Emerging Concept In Dairy Sector Development

• Dr. Sharan Kumar Pandey

The dairy sector is one of the best version of agriculture ecology which supports food and nutrition security, alleviate poverty, and employment generation, improve farmer's income, and contribute to achieving the national goal of economic prosperity. A well-known facts and figure about the dairy sector and its profound value on the economy is highly visible and remarkable. The national average production of milk per year is almost 2.5 million tons which is slightly less than self-sufficient. The overall contribution of the agriculture sector to GDP is 24.1 percent including 9 percent from the livestock sector. The majority section of livestock contribution comes from the dairy sector which is almost 60 percent. Subsistence and traditional level of dairy farming are the main characteristics of Madesh province that might impede dairy development. More than 60 percent of farmers within Madesh province still have cattle and buffalo in their sheds. The livelihood improvement of the farmers can be achieved through investment in the dairy sector in the area of mechanization modernization innovation technology and infrastructure which is indispensable. The Madesh province is far behind the national average of milk production and consumption figures.

It is essential to find out the major problems and challenges that was deeply rooted in dairy sector and also figure out the emerging environmental social economic technical local as well as global issues and make better plan to uproot it. First of all, the legal instrument regarding for the promotion of dairy sector will be formulated and then execute the project for the fulfillment of vision thus getting farmers wellbeing. Revolution in dairy sector is possible when there is will power determination dedication and ethical discipline of every section of the society. Despite various challenges and obstacle in dairy sector, there is always hope for the sustainable development in the livestock sector. Madesh province now make a plan for the improvement of the living standards of vulnerable deprived segment of society marginalized downtrodden farmers through vigorous investment in dairy farming with involvement/mobilization of community cooperatives. Milk village is the new concept develop by the province to build up the strong and sustainable dairy sector for prosperity.

Concept of milk village
The concept of milk village is where all the individual farmers within a village are involved in the milk ecosystem (Grass to Glass) managed via cooperatives. There are two category of milk village with in targeted area that is micro and macro. The area of milk village is defined based on the production of milk. The minimum standards per day milk production for micro milk village (Mimv) is 5000 liters and for macro milk village is 20000 liters. There will be shield linkage between micro and macro milk village that finally converted into mega milk village. The diversified activities are devise to implement in the milk village for advancing the dairy sector where prosperity of village will be achieved.

Objectives
The main strategic objective to establishment of milk village in madesh province will be the following
To gather every member of village and involve them in dairy sector development for higher and equitable income and prosperous province.
To develop cohesiveness, harmony and build strong coordination among the village member for ensure sustainable milk ecosystem.
To increase production and productivity of milk, diversification of product via dairy industry and maintain quality of milk and its product.
To contribute in the food and nutrition security, empower community, employment generation and poverty alleviation.
To build and promote strong market linkage with digitalize marketing system.

Components of milk village: A Cooperative Approach
Based on the standard, first define and set boundaries of the milk village where the cooperative involvement is mandatory. The components execute in cooperative managed milk village should be environment friendly, socially acceptable and economically viable that helps to promote sustainability. The major components encompassing within milk village are describe below.

• Improvement in the production and productivity of milk: under this component, various sub component are delineate as breed improvement program, shed and nutritional management program, animal health enhancement program, provision of technical manpower, facilitation for insurance and on farm capital formation, embrace technology and mechanization etc.
• Empowerment and capacity advancement. Some critical program are envisioned in this component like awareness program, conduct onsite training, insert innovative idea through application of knowledge, improve leadership and management skills, exposure visit, idea exchange platform and so on.
• Infrastructure, Market and Digitalization: The vital program under this component are defined as investment in infrastructure (collection center, processing plant, dairy industry, packaging, branding, cold storage chamber, etc.), new market identity, establishing a dairy parlor, and developing an online marketing system.
• Monitoring, Evaluation, and Quality Control: The major areas under this component are to establish a strong and relevant monitoring and evaluation system, a Dairy laboratory for quality control, a support milk analyzer, and so on.

Modality proposed in Milk Village:
Under the proper guidance of government authority, cooperatives formed five different segments for the implementation of the program within the milk village. The cooperatives are independent for the selection of members whereas one segment should have 11 in number. Although, the name of the segments will be decided after discussion with cooperatives but proposed modalities are as follows.

Milk production segments
Forage/silage/feed management segments
Milk collection segments
Milk diversification and marketing segment
Animal health improvement segments.

All the segments have their own roles and responsibility which is guided by the work procedure prepared by the government and cooperative jointly. The target will be given to each segment and have to coordinate and implement the program. The coordination among the segments will be done by the elected committee of cooperatives and also handling the disputes and grievances.

Conclusion
Milk village is the new paradigm in the area of dairy development. It fulfills the hopes of farmers, improves their livelihood, contributes in food and nutrition security, promote cohesiveness and develop harmony. It supports in the livestock transformation in madesh province. The concept focuses on the mobilization of the community through dairy farming. Our province will predict definitely milk village supports in the development of just and prosperous province.

Dr. Sharan Kumar Pandey is currently serving as the Province Secretary of the Madesh Province.