Dilip Rath, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been unanimously elected to the Board of International Dairy Federation (IDF) on 2nd November 2020 during the General Assembly of IDF.
Rath said, “I see my election to the IDF Board as an opportunity to bring along valuable insights from the Indian dairy experience and foster complementarities and synergies between dairying nations.
It is a privilege for me to represent the world’s largest milk producing nation and contribute to promoting Sustainable Goals of dairying and also meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I keenly look forward to furthering IDF Board’s mandate.”
Shri Dilip Rath is associated with IDF for the last 10 years as Member
Secretary of Indian National Committee and as a member of the Standing
Committee on Dairy Policy and Economics.
He has participated in National Committee Secretaries’ meetings as well as General Assembly on numerous occasions. Shri Rath was also a distinguished speaker in the Leaders’ Forum Panel at Rotterdam Summit in 2016.
He played a key role in signing the Dairy Declaration at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Rotterdam in October 2016 between IDF and FAO.
The IDF Indian National Committee represented by Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India and Chairman, NDDB signed the Indian Dairy Sector’s endorsement to meet U N Sustainable Development Goals with President and Director General of International Dairy Federation at IDF’s World Dairy Summit at Istanbul in 2019.
Shri Rath as Secretary of the Indian National Committee, took the
initiative to host the World Dairy Summit in India in 2022. India will
host the first post COVID -19 IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 in which
over 1000 participants including experts, academicians, dairy
professionals are expected to participate from about 55 countries.
Hosting the World Dairy Summit in New Delhi, India, will be a proud
moment and a befitting tribute to the dairy farmers. The summit
provides a global forum to dairy leaders and experts to exchange
knowledge and ideas on how the sector can contribute to nourish the
world with safe and sustainable dairying.
Shri Rath said that cooperative approach in India is not a matter of
choice but it constitutes an essential strategy by which millions of
small dairy farmers are being empowered to have a level playing field
in the market and get a fair share of the value of milk. Dairying in
India has proven to be the growth engine for the farm sector as a
whole. It is not only about providing nutrition to billions of
consumers but is also about ensuring sustainable livelihood for
millions of our milk producers. India ranks first among the world’s
milk producing nations and has the largest bovine population in the
World. The milk production in country has been growing at the
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.43 % as against the global
CAGR of 1.53 % for the last 5 years. The impressive growth and
self-sufficiency in the dairy sector has been made possible by the
concerted efforts of the dairy farmers, Government of India, NDDB and
many other stakeholders. In this context the selection of Shri Rath is
considered to be a matter of pride for India.
The global dairy sector is poised to play an important role towards
meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal aimed at eliminating
hunger by 2030. Among others, it shall continue to focus on the
important element of promotion of sustainable agriculture and
supporting marginal and small farmers. In doing so, women’s
empowerment leading to their increased participation in leadership and
decision making in dairy cooperatives and producer’s association need
to be promoted.
IDF is an international non-governmental, non-profit association with
a vision “Helping to nourish the world with safe and sustainable
dairy”. IDF members are National Committees generally constituted by
dairy organizations in each country. The National Committee represents
its country. India is represented by the National Committee (INC) of
the IDF. The Secretary (ADF), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry
and Dairying, Government of India is the President of the INC-IDF and
NDDB, as its Secretariat, coordinates its activities.
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