India's milk production rose to 112 mn tonnes last fiscal

New Delhi, July 27 (PTI) India's milk production grew by3।3 per cent to 112 million tonnes in the last fiscal,Parliament was informed today. "Milk production in the country grew by 3.3 per cent to112 million tonnes in 2009-10 fiscal as compared to 108.4million tonnes in the previous fiscal," Minister of State forFood and Agriculture K V Thomas said while responding to awritten query in the Lok Sabha. DM, Mother Dairy, Amul and others have increased milkprices by over Rs 6 per kg to ensure that farmers arecompensated for rising production costs. He said the reduced availability and increase in price offodder due to drought conditions in 2009 led to the increasein milk prices. The minister said that during the last fiscal, theNational Dairy Development Board had allowed the import of30,000 tonnes of milk powder and 15,000 tonnes of butter withzero import duty to augment the availability of liquid milkand stabilise the price of milk in the domestic market. "All state governments have been requested to exempt orreduce VAT on molasses and other cattle feed ingredients usedin manufacturing cattle feed to reduce the cost," Thomas said. (पीटीआई)