The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has said that India must increase the average incremental milk production from 4 million tons (mt) in the last 10 years to 7.8 mt in the next 8 years to meet the growing demand.

Estimated demand for milk in India is expected to be about 155 mt by 2016-17 and 200 mt in 2021-22, said NDDB Chairman T Nanda Kumar on Tuesday. He said the ongoing National Dairy Plan (NDP) is a scientifically planned multi-state initiative to increase productivity of milch animals.

The 1st phase of NDP is focusing on 14 major milk producing States, which account for more than 90% of the country milk production, over 87% of the breedable cattle and buffalo population and 98% of the country fodder.