India Dairy Productivity Push Depends on Feed Technology

India’s dairy ecosystem is run by roughly 80 million smallholder farmers, each with an average herd of three to four animals. That fragmentation makes it hard to get scientific feeding practices onto the farm, he said. Feed is the most powerful productivity tool available to dairy farmers, and tailoring nutrition to different lifecycle stages can significantly lift output without expanding herd size.

Data is starting to help. Modern milk quality testing equipment, digital advisory platforms, and herd monitoring systems let farmers detect health issues earlier, optimise breeding cycles, and adjust rations in real time. The same data can enforce quality-linked pricing at the mandi level, tying feed quality to the price the farmer receives. Maize is a key ingredient in compound feed, and aligning with FSSAI moisture and aflatoxin norms for human-grade maize would create a quality-linked pricing signal that runs from the consumer back to the feed supplier, the executive said.

Technology delivers impact when paired with farmer capability-building. Scientific nutrition creates value when farmers have practical knowledge and trusted advisory services, and confidence to adopt new practices. Strengthening collaboration between government, cooperatives, research institutions and industry will be critical to accelerate adoption of modern feeding and farm management practices at scale. By combining science-led nutrition with smarter farm technologies, India can build a dairy sector that delivers higher productivity, improved farmer livelihoods and a more resilient food system, he concluded.