NDDB - Mother Dairy launch Phase-II in Vidarbha-Marathwada
The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Mother Dairy are poised to launch the second phase of their dairy development initiative across the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra. The program, building on the progress and learnings from Phase I, seeks to further strengthen farm-level capacity, procurement infrastructure, and milk production in historically under-developed dairy zones.
In its first phase, the Vidarbha-Marathwada Dairy Development Project (VMDDP) had established critical infrastructure in Marathwada — including 187 milk pooling points, 15 bulk milk coolers, and one milk chilling center in Nanded district — serving 1,673 farmers across 247 villages. The cumulative procurement network across both regions now spans 3,411 villages, leveraging 35,000 pourers, with current milk procurement averaging 4.50 lakh kg/day. Since inception (Oct 2016) till February 2025, over ₹2,303.26 crore has been directly disbursed to participating farmers.
The project also supports genetic improvement and animal husbandry: 273 Artificial Insemination (AI) centres are operational, which have carried out about 2 lakh AIs using conventional semen and 12,024 AIs using sexed semen, leading to 20,979 genetically superior calves in the regions.
Industry & Regional Insights
The move to launch Phase II reflects several strategic and contextual drivers:
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Closing the productivity gap: Despite overall dairy growth, regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada lag behind core dairy belts in milk yields and infrastructure — targeted interventions can unlock latent potential.
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Integrating smallholder farmers: By expanding the network of milk procurement centers, coolers, and support services, the scheme aims to bring remote farmers into the organized supply chain, reducing dependency on informal markets.
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Supply-chain resilience: As India’s dairy industry faces volatility in feed costs, weather risk, and input inflation, decentralizing procurement infrastructure helps buffer against regional supply shocks.
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Sustainability & scale: The scale of disbursements and infrastructure already created in Phase I underscores the fiscal and operational commitment; Phase II likely aims to replicate and scale these gains more widely.
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Animal genetics & productivity boost: The emphasis on AI (including sexed semen) suggests an ongoing shift from quantity to quality — improving per-animal yield, reducing herd size stress, and optimizing resource use.
Challenges & Forward Focus
As Phase II rolls out, several issues must be navigated:
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Cost vs. sustainability: Ensuring that the expanded infrastructure (coolers, transport, collection) becomes financially viable in less-dense areas will be critical.
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Farmer engagement & retention: Sustaining producer participation demands transparent pricing, reliable buy-back, and timely payments.
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Fodder, feed & health inputs: Dairy growth depends on strengthening fodder systems, veterinary support, and disease control — otherwise infrastructure alone won’t yield gains.
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Governance & monitoring: Phase II must learn from Phase I’s weak cost assumptions and use data-driven budgeting, sensitivity analyses, and rigorous monitoring.