INTRODUCTION

The Indian dairy industry is contributing significantly to the country's economy, besides improving the health standard by increasing the nutrition value of the food. The value of output from Dairy Sector increased to Rs.5,00,510 million in 1994-95 from Rs.2,75,080 million in 1990 and is expected to reach the level of Rs. 8,50,000 million by the year 2000 A.D.

India occupies first position in the world having a total bovine population of 288 million compared to the world's total bovine population of 1420 million. As per 1992 livestock census, the country has about 62.90 million breedable cows and 42.46 million breedable buffaloes (Statewise and species/breedwise figures are given in Annexure I). The cross bred cattle are predominant in Kerala, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu , Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, While buffaloes are very common in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Gujarat, Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka , Haryana and Tamil Nadu

There has been a major improvement in milk production which increased from 17 million tones in 1951 to 70.1 million tonnes in 1997 and the growth was maximum between 1980 and 1990. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Bihar contributed to the extent of 85 percent of the total milk production in the country. Today, India is the second largest producer of milk in the world after the United States of America. The present per capita availability of milk is 205 gms as against the ICMR recommendation of 250 gms. The statewise milk production during 1992-93 and targets for 1996-97 along with the per capita availability of milk are given in the below Table.

STATE WISE CATTLE AND BUFFALOES, MILK PRODUCTION AND PER CAPITA AVAILABILITY OF MILK
Population – in thousands (1992 census)
Production – in thousand tonnes
Availability – in gms.

Source : Directorate of Economics and Statistics and State Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Recognizing the importance of the sector, the notable programmes taken up are key village schemes, intensive cattle development projects, crossbreeding projects through bilateral assistance, operation flood programme and technology mission by establishing National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
In 1970 under the aegis of NDDB, "Operational Flood" programme was launched to modernize the dairy sector and flood the 4 metro cities with milk from dairy cooperatives. By the end of 1996-97, 74,383 village milk producers cooperatives were organised in 264 districts with an average rural milk procurement of 12.26 million liters per day.

Another step was taken in 1989, to augment rural income by launching Technology Mission on Dairy Development (TMDD), which aims at applying modern technology to improve productivity, reduce costs of operation and thus ensure greater availability of milk and dairy products.

With the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991, the dairy sector too was delicenced. However, on June 9, 1992 GOI issued a Milk and Milk Products Order (MMPO), according to which, a dairy handling more than 10000 liters of milk per day is required to get itself registered. The registering authority shall be an officer of the State Government or Union Territory in respect of units handling upto 75000 liters/day, or 3750 MT of milk solids per annum, where the entire milkshed of the unit lies within a State / Union Territory. In case of those units, which are handling more than 75000 liters of milk per day or 3750 MT of milk solids per annum, the registering authority is Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying ,Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India.

MILK PROCUREMENT AND PROCESSING
The organized dairy sector (both cooperatives and private) is presently handling only 10-12 percent of total milk production in the country. The target and achievements of milk production, procurement and processing in cooperative sector by the end of VIII Five year plan are given in Annexure II. Thus it indicates, there is a wide scope for processing of milk and manufacture of milk products for domestic consumption as well as export.

EXPORT PERFORMANCE
Dairy products form one of the fastest growing segments in the livestock product export. The major products exported are malted milk foods, ghee and cheese (to some extent) to the countries like Bangladesh, UAE, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Oman. The export performance during the years 1980-81 to 1995-96 are given in Table.

YEARWISE EXPORT OF DAIRY PRODUCTS

EXPORT POTENTIAL AND MARKETS

Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Oman are the potential countries for export of malted milk products, butter and ghee. The export of milk and milk products to currently existing markets would increase to Rs.285 million and to new markets to Rs. 155 million. Thus the exports is likely to touch Rs.440 million (APEDA estimates) by the turn of the century.

The GATT agreement further gave a boost to the dairy industry, as India has a comparative cost advantage in regard to milk production. NABARD has been actively involved in credit disbursement in number of schemes in dairy sector. It also encourages development of new products through its research and development funds besides guiding various entrepreneurs in new areas of business and technology.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The financial assistance is extended for processing of milk with the following objectives.
i) To enhance the keeping quality of milk and also to avoid economic losses to farmers.
ii) For manufacturing various milk products to make it available for the domestic market
as well as for export markets.

TYPE OF PROJECTS
The type of milk processing projects that are normally considered for financial assistance are:
i) Milk Chilling plants:
It involves collection of milk from the villages, chilling the milk to 3-4 degree Celsius and transporting to the main dairy for further processing and manufacture of products;
ii). Market Milk Plants:
It involves procurement of milk from the villages, chilling, pasteurization, homogenization, packing of milk of various brands (whole, standard, toned and double toned milk) and supplying them to the consumers. The surplus fat is converted into ghee or table butter or sold as cream to bakeries;
iii). Composite Milk Processing Plants :
The project involves the collection of milk and processing into market milk and products like milk powder, cheese, butter, ghee, etc.;

POTENTIAL AREAS:
The scope for financing milk processing activities exists in the entire country. However, it is limited in East and North Eastern parts of the country because of under utilization of existing processing capacities, low milk production and scatteredness of production base.

BENEFICIARIES
The beneficiaries may be individuals, partnership firms, companies, corporate bodies and cooperative societies/unions.

1. Land and Location:
i) Ample space is required for buildings, future expansion, parking of transport vehicles and for empty cans. About two acres of land is required for a milk processing plant handling about 10000 liters of milk per day (8 hours). However the built up area to total area should be around 1:3 ratio;
ii) The location of a plant should be close to the milk producing area in case of products manufacturing unit and if liquid milk is the main product it should be close to the consumer;
iii) The location of site should have proximity to road/rail facilities, services, such as water, electricity and effluent mains, social infrastructure, etc.
iv) The subsoil of the site should be firm with proper drainage.

2 Site Development:-
i) Preferably the entire site should be fenced with barbed wire or compound wall is constructed with gates at suitable places;
ii) Internal roads should be of tar/bricks/WBM depending upon the soil conditions, rainfall and the number of vehicles moving every day.

3. Layout and Buildings:-
The civil works comprises of factory building, quarters, office, garages, security post etc. The factory building for the milk reception, quality control, processing, packing and storage of milk products should be as per the BIS. The total covered area depends on the processes involved, products manufactured, the quantity of milk handled and the equipment chosen for services and product manufacturing. About 4000 sq.ft. area of building is required for handling 10000 liters of milk..

Essential Sections of a Milk Processing Plant

i) Raw Milk Receiption Dock (RMRD) - consisting of can conveyor, can washer, weighting balance, dump tank etc.
ii) Processing Hall - cream separator, chiller, homogenizer, pasteuriser and other related machinery are installed.
iii) Storage area- for milk storage tanks.
iv) Products manufacturing area-depends upon the type of products and the quantity of milk handled, the required equipment needs to be installed.
v) Packing area-for packing of liquid milk and other products.
vi) Cold storage-for keeping the milk and milk products before sending to market.
vii) Quality Control Laboratory-for testing the quality of milk and milk products.
viii) Utilities area-for installing boiler, generator set, water treatment plant, maintenance and store area for spares.
ix) Waste water treatment plant area-for treating the dairy effluents before releasing to the fields.
x) Quarters and office area-for all the essential staff.
xi) Vehicle parking area-both for the milk procurement and distribution vehicles.
xii) Input supply area- for providing veterinary service, supply of feed, fodder seeds, etc.

The layout plans for a plant of 10000 liters per day

4. Plant and Machinery:
The sectionwise equipment required, their specifications, quantity and costs for 10,000 litres capacity plant are given in Statement 3. The machinery should be as per the BIS. Most of the dairy machinery are manufactured in the country by ALFA-LAVAL, L&T, HMT, Nichrome Pvt. Ltd., Samarpan Fabricators , Goma Engineering Ltd. etc.

5. Technical Collaboration:-
Normally the technical collaboration may be for supply of machinery, technical know-how for manufacture or marketing of products. If any such collaboration arrangement is there, name of the firm, country and term of agreement is required to be mentioned.

6. Manufacturing Process:-
The operations involved in the manufacturing process should be given in the form of a flow diagram.

7. Infrastructural Facilities for Raw Material and Utilities
7.1 Raw Material:
The principal raw material is milk. The extent of milk shed area, milch animal population , average milk yield, percentage of animals in milk, marketed surplus ,etc will determine the size of the plant. The method of procurement, transportation of milk and input supply to the farmers is required to be highlighted. The availability of other inputs such as packing materials, disinfectants and consumable should be ascertained.

7.2. Utilities:-
i) Power:
Normally a three phase electricity supply is required for milk processing plants. The power requirement depends upon the load to be connected and the necessary approval from SEB should be obtained for connection. Depending upon the position of power supply, standby generators may be considered for connecting the essential sections.

ii) Water:
A milk processing plant requires the water in the ratio of 2:1 (2 liters of water for 1 liter of milk processed) for cleaning of equipment, cold storage and drinking purposes (source of water supply, quantity available and suitability for the purpose has to be mentioned). Accordingly , the size of the well is required to be designed and depends on the quality of water, the water softening plant may be considered.

iii) Steam:
The steam requirement (kg/hr) depends upon the processes involved and the source of steam may be met by coal/oil/gas fired / electric boiler;

iv) Fuel:
LDO/coal/gas requirement and the availability to be ascertained.

v) Compressed Air:
It will be required for various pneumatic operations flow control operations as well as for cleaning purposes. The total requirement of compressed air and the capacity of the compressors is required to be furnished.

vi) Vehicles :
The vehicles required for procurement and distribution of milk depends on the quantity of milk to be handled. The number of vehicles required, source of supply, rental charges etc. need to be furnished. Depending upon the need, the requirement of vehicles may be considered in the project cost.

vii) Other Services:
Although a maintenance workshop is an integral part of milk processing for carrying out repairs and maintenance of equipment.

viii) Communication:
Proper communication facilities is essential.

8.Manpower:
While selecting the site, the availability of manpower should be looked into and the total requirement of manpower depends on the operations involved and the quantity of milk handled. For a plant handling 10000 liters of milk per day the manpower required is given in Annexure VI

9. Environmental Aspects and Pollution Control:
There are no hazardous effluents generated from a milk processing plant. However, construction of effluent treatment plant is necessary in case of multiproduct large size plants for treating the effluents before discharging for proper disposal. The final effluent should meet the requirements of Pollution Control Board and is necessary to get clearance from them.

10. Schedule of Implementation
The activity wise schedule of implementation is to be given in the project.

11. Products
The major products and by products proposed to be manufactured along with quantities, composition in terms of fat and SNF and costing should be indicated.

12. Marketing and Selling Arrangements
The market for the product (domestic and export), type of arrangements for distribution and sales, commission and additional incentive to be given, the proposed net work and the advertisement plans should be furnished. Detailed market survey report is required to be submitted.

13. Business Prospects:
It involves the present demand-supply for various products, gap in supply and expected demand for various products. The major competitors and their present share is to be ascertained. The company projections for the next 3-5 years and the basis for projection may have to be furnished. The product wise quantities and countries where it is to be exported need to be mentioned.

Source: http://www.nabard.org/