Allied sectors: dairy and fisheries

Detail

1. What "allied sectors" means

• Allied sectors are farm activities other than growing crops: animal husbandry (raising cattle, buffalo, goats, poultry), dairying and fisheries.
• They give farm families a second income. Milk and fish sell all year round, while crop income comes only at harvest.
• Dairy is now India's largest agricultural product. It makes up about 5% of the national economy and directly employs more than 8 crore farmers (National Accounts Statistics, cited 2025) [3].

2. White Revolution (Operation Flood)

• White Revolution is the popular name for Operation Flood. It was the national programme that made India self-sufficient in milk.
• Class 10 names it with the Green Revolution (the use of high-yielding seeds, fertiliser and irrigation to raise grain output) as a farm strategy of the 1960s–70s.

Institutions and people

• National Dairy Development Board (NDDB): set up in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. Verghese Kurien was its first chairman [3].
• The aim: to copy the "Anand experiment" across India. In Anand, the dairy farmers of Kaira district, Gujarat had formed the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, the forerunner of Amul [3].
• In 1987, an Act of Parliament made NDDB an Institution of National Importance [3].

How Operation Flood worked (cause → process → result)

• Cause: milk came from millions of small herders in villages, but buyers were in cities. Middlemen paid farmers little, and milk spoilt on the way.
• Process:
• village milk cooperatives were set up on the Anand (Amul) pattern. A cooperative is a society owned by its member farmers, who sell milk to it and share the profit.
• cooperatives collected milk twice a day, chilled it and processed it

• a national milk grid carried milk from surplus rural areas to big city markets

• Result: the programme launched in 1970 ran in three phases up to 1996. It turned India into the world's largest milk producer [3].

Cooperative network today (2025)

Unit	Number
Milk federations	22
District cooperative unions	241
Marketing dairies	28
Milk Producer Organisations (MPOs)	25
Villages covered	~2.35 lakh
Farmer members	1.72 crore

Source: [3]

• Women make up about 70% of the dairy workforce. More than 48,000 women-led village dairy cooperatives are working [3].

White Revolution 2.0

• Its SOP was released on 19 September 2024 and it was formally launched on 25 December 2024. It runs for five years, 2024-25 to 2028-29 [3].
• Targets:
• 75,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies
• 46,422 existing societies to be strengthened

• cooperative milk procurement to reach 1,007 lakh kg per day by 2028-29 [3]

• It also plans three Multi-State Cooperative Societies: one for cattle feed, one for organic manure and biogas from cow dung, and one for hides, bones and horns of dead animals [3].

3. Milk production today

• India is 1st in the world in milk production, with nearly a quarter (~25%) of world output [2][3]. FAO data place it well ahead of the USA, Pakistan, China and Brazil [3].
• Output: 247.87 million tonnes in 2024-25, up 3.58% from 239.30 million tonnes in 2023-24 (Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2025) [2].
• Growth: from 146.31 million tonnes in 2014-15, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR: the average yearly growth rate over a period) of 5.41% over 11 years [2].
• Per capita availability: 319 g/day in 2014-15 → 485 g/day in 2024-25 [2]. The world average is about 322 g/day [3].

Top milk-producing states, 2024-25 (share of national output) [2]

Rank	State	Share
1	Uttar Pradesh	15.66%
2	Rajasthan	14.82%
3	Madhya Pradesh	9.12%
4	Gujarat	7.78%
5	Maharashtra	6.71%
	Top five together	54.09%

• The NCERT-derived order (UP → Rajasthan → MP) still holds.

4. Dairy geography and breeds

• Bovines means cattle, buffalo, mithun and yak. India has 303.76 million of them. It also has 148.88 million goats and 74.26 million sheep, and these matter for milk in arid and semi-arid areas [3].
• Regional pattern:

Region	Main milk animal	Why
North-west (Punjab, Haryana, western UP, Rajasthan)	Buffalo	Plenty of fodder from wheat-rice farming; buffalo milk is rich in fat and sells well
South (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh)	Crossbred cattle (exotic × Indian, e.g. Holstein Friesian or Jersey crosses)	Strong cooperative and breeding networks; high-yield cows suit stall feeding
Arid west, hill and tribal belts	Indigenous cattle, goats, camels	Animals that can bear heat and survive on poor fodder

• Indigenous breeds protected under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission: Gir (Saurashtra, Gujarat), Sahiwal (Punjab–Haryana belt), Red Sindhi (from Sindh), Tharparkar (Thar Desert, western Rajasthan). These native animals bear heat and resist disease, but give less milk.
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM, 2014): a scheme to conserve and develop indigenous cattle and buffalo breeds, improve the genes of the bovine herd and raise milk yields [3].

• A revised RGM came in March 2025 with an extra ₹1,000 crore. Total allocation is ₹3,400 crore for the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26) [3].

• Breeding gap:

• Artificial insemination (AI: placing semen from a high-quality bull into the cow by hand, without natural mating) reaches only 33% of breedable bovines [3]
• nearly 70% are still served by scrub bulls (bulls of unknown genetic quality) [3]

• 565.55 lakh AIs were done in 2024-25 [3]

• Sex-sorted semen (semen sorted so that most calves born are female, the future milk animals): over 10.32 million doses produced, and 22 IVF labs set up (2025) [3].

• Bovine productivity grew 27.39% between 2014 and 2022, the highest in the world. The global average growth was 13.97% [3].
• National Milk Day: 26 November, Verghese Kurien's birthday. Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics are released on this day [2].

5. Fisheries in India

• Fisheries means catching or farming fish and other water animals (shrimp, prawn, crab). It has two branches:
• Capture fisheries: catching wild fish from the sea, rivers or reservoirs
• Aquaculture (culture fisheries): raising fish or shrimp in ponds, tanks or cages, like farming

India's position

• India is the second-largest fish-producing nation, with about 8% of global output (2025) [4]. It is also counted as the second-largest aquaculture producer (verify current).
• Total fish production: 96 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 → 195 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, a rise of 104% [4]. A later provisional figure for 2024-25 is ~197.75 lakh tonnes [5].
• Since PMMSY: output rose from 141.60 lakh tonnes (2019-20) to ~197.75 lakh tonnes (2024-25), up 38% [5].

The shift from sea to inland

• Inland fisheries (rivers, reservoirs, ponds, tanks, brackish water) grew 142%, from 61 lakh tonnes (2013-14) to 147.37 lakh tonnes (2024-25) [4].
• That is roughly three-quarters (~75%) of total output in 2024-25. Marine fish make up the remaining ~quarter [4].
• Why the shift happened:
• sea catches are close to their limit, because many coastal fish stocks are overfished
• pond farming gives a steady, controlled harvest

• new hatcheries, pond systems, cold chains and market links helped growth [4]

• Result: fish farming, not sea fishing, now drives growth.

Feature	Inland / aquaculture	Marine capture
Share (2024-25)	~75%	~25%
Main species	Indian major carps (rohu, catla, mrigal); vannamei shrimp	Sardine, mackerel, Bombay duck, tuna, prawns
Leading areas	Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, UP	Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra coasts
Trend	Fast-growing	Near its limit

Leading states

• Andhra Pradesh — 1st. Its lead comes mainly from farmed shrimp (vannamei, the Pacific white-leg shrimp, a fast-growing foreign species) in brackish-water ponds in the Godavari–Krishna deltas (East and West Godavari, Krishna districts). It is also a major producer of farmed freshwater carp.
• West Bengal — 2nd. Its strength is freshwater carp from ponds, tanks and the wetlands of the Ganga–Hooghly delta. Fish is a staple food there.
• Marine fishing is strongest off Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
• The EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone: the sea area up to 200 nautical miles from the coast, where India alone may fish and mine) is the fishing base. See ocean-relief-temperature-salinity.
• The broad, shallow continental shelf off the west coast and nutrient-rich water in the monsoon season make the Arabian Sea coast richer in fish.
• For the world's main fishing grounds, see primary-activities-world.

6. Fisheries schemes

• Blue Revolution (began 2015-16) [4]:
• a programme to raise fish output and improve the whole fish value chain (every step from seed and feed to catch, processing and sale)
• it covered both inland and marine fisheries

• it left gaps in post-harvest handling, traceability (being able to track a fish back to where it was caught or farmed), fishers' welfare, and links to credit and markets [4]

• Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY, 2020): it builds on the Blue Revolution and fills those gaps [4].

• Outlay: ₹20,050 crore. Of this, ₹9,407 crore is central, ₹4,880 crore from states and ₹5,763 crore from beneficiaries [4]
• Period: 2020-21 to 2024-25, extended to 2025-26 [4]
• Projects approved: worth ₹21,274.16 crore by 22 July 2025 [4]
• 34 fisheries clusters notified, including organic fisheries clusters in Sikkim and Meghalaya [4]

• 11 Integrated Aquaparks approved (₹682.60 crore). These are one-stop hubs for seed, feed, farming, processing, cold storage and marketing [4]

• PM Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY): a sub-scheme of PMMSY approved in February 2024. It runs 2023-24 to 2026-27 with ₹6,000 crore and supports insurance, credit and formal registration [4].

• National Fisheries Digital Platform (NFDP): launched 11 September 2024. More than 26 lakh stakeholders had registered by August 2025 [4].
• Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF): launched in 2018-19 with a fund size of ₹7,522.48 crore. It was extended to March 2026 [4].
• Kisan Credit Card was extended to fisheries in 2019. 4.76 lakh KCCs had been issued by June 2025 [4].
• Union Budget 2025-26: ₹2,703.67 crore, the highest ever for fisheries [4].

7. Issues

• Mangrove loss:
• coastal mangroves are cleared to dig shrimp ponds, for example on the Godavari–Krishna delta fringes

• this removes fish nurseries and storm protection, and lets salt water spread into farmland

• Antibiotic residues:

• antibiotics are overused to control shrimp diseases
• traces left in shrimp lead to rejected export shipments and add to antimicrobial resistance (AMR: germs that no longer respond to medicines)

• ethno-veterinary medicine is being promoted in dairy to cut antibiotic use [3]

• Export dependence: shrimp is India's main seafood export, so farm incomes swing with foreign demand and trade barriers.

• Overfishing and conflicts in marine fisheries: catches near the limit, trawling by bottom trawlers (boats that drag nets along the sea floor), and arrests of fishers who cross maritime boundaries.
• Dairy issues: low yield per animal, scrub-bull breeding [3], fodder shortage, and stray cattle.

Prelims Hooks

• Operation Flood = White Revolution. NDDB was set up in 1965 at Anand (Gujarat), the programme began in 1970, and it ran in three phases to 1996. Kurien was NDDB's first chairman.
• Amul's forerunner = Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union (Kaira district, Gujarat).
• Top milk states, 2024-25: UP (15.66%) > Rajasthan (14.82%) > MP (9.12%) > Gujarat > Maharashtra [2]. Trap: Punjab is not in the top five.
• Milk output 2024-25: 247.87 million tonnes, per capita 485 g/day, India 1st in the world with ~25% of output [2].
• National Milk Day = 26 November (Kurien's birthday). Do not confuse it with World Milk Day (1 June).
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission (2014) = indigenous breeds. Breed–area pairs: Gir–Gujarat, Sahiwal–Punjab/Haryana, Tharparkar–Rajasthan (Thar), Red Sindhi–Sindh origin.
• Fish: India 2nd in the world, ~8% of output. 195 lakh tonnes (2024-25), with inland at ~147 lakh tonnes (~75%) [4].
• Leading fish state = Andhra Pradesh (vannamei shrimp, Godavari–Krishna deltas), then West Bengal (freshwater carp).
• PMMSY (2020): ₹20,050 crore, 2020-21 to 2024-25, extended to 2025-26. Blue Revolution came before it (2015-16) [4].
• White Revolution 2.0: 2024-25 to 2028-29, with 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies [3].

Mains Points

• Cooperatives as a development model (GS-I/III): Operation Flood linked smallholders to city markets through Anand-pattern cooperatives and a milk grid. The result was India's 1st place (247.87 million tonnes, 2024-25) [2], a reach of 1.72 crore members [3], and a strong role for women. The weak spots are low yields, AI coverage of only 33% [3] and fodder shortage. RGM and White Revolution 2.0 are the policy answers.
• Spatial pattern of dairying: buffalo milk dominates in the fodder-rich north-west, crossbred cattle in the south and hardy indigenous breeds in the arid west. Milk production is concentrated, with five states giving 54% (2024-25) [2]. This follows fodder supply, cooperative strength and urban demand.
• Blue Revolution shift from sea to farm (GS-III): inland and aquaculture output rose 142% in a decade to about 75% of the total [4]. Causes: marine stocks near their limit, cheap pond culture and investment under PMMSY. Effects: higher incomes and exports, centred on Andhra Pradesh shrimp.
• Environmental cost: shrimp ponds clear mangroves, push salt water inland and leave antibiotic residues that threaten seafood exports. Answers include traceability (NFDP) [4], fisheries clusters including organic ones in Sikkim and Meghalaya [4], ecosystem-based fishery management in the EEZ, and mangrove restoration.