Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Veterinary Services sector has been a priority area for the Government in the last 22 years from the year 1995 to 2016. During this period due to the pro-poor and pro-farmer policies of the government, significant milestones have been achieved in terms of development of infrastructure, strengthening of man-power in the department and in the self sufficiency in the livestock products. Today, Sikkim can boast of best of infrastructure in the poultry, dairy and other sectors and is close to self sufficiency in the broiler meat and milk sector. More than Rs. 15.00 crores per annum is transferred to the poultry farmers of Sikkim through broiler production by organized sector only. Whereas, open market sale is still not assessed. Similarly, in the dairy sector Cross Breeding Programme carried out by the Department over the last two decades have resulted in significant improvement in milk production and today in the organized sector like Sikkim Milk Union, North Dairy milk Union and Sikkim Dairy Pvt Ltd. are processing around 40,000 litres of milk per day resulting in direct transfer of more than Rs. 39 crores to our dairy farmers annually whereas, in unorganized sectors, sixty percent (60%) of the milk is sold through the open market . Progress made in the various fields in the Animal Husbandry sectors are as under :-

Dairy Development

Since the inception of the present government under the dynamic leadership of Honorable Chief Minister a paradigm shift in the process of development has taken place. Livestock farmers were targeted to participate in the process of development for their sustainability and rural prosperity. Among the development programmes, animal husbandry sectors with particular reference to dairy was given optimum priority. This leadership ushering a new era of development has brought about phenomenal achievement in Dairy Development sector. Accordingly, activities like capacity building, cattle induction, fodder development, entrepreneurship development for establishment of dairy farm were the main thrust of the development. The dairy development in the state in the three districts of Sikkim viz east, west and south have been implemented through Sikkim Milk Union and in the north district through North District Milk Union.

Sikkim Milk Union

The primary aim of the Sikkim Milk Union is to provide remunerative market for milk producers in the far-flung remote villages and make hygienic milk and milk products available to the urban consumers at reasonable rates thereby achieving the following objectives.

1. Stabilize price of milk by connecting areas of surplus milk to the milk-deficient towns and cities.
2. Uplift the socio-economic condition of the rural poor by increasing their income through sale of their milk.
3. Enhance milk production of milch animals by providing technical inputs such as balanced milch ration, fodder seeds, fodder saplings thus helping to increase the income of the farmers.
4. Enhance milk yield of the milch cattle of the farmers by improving their genetic potential through artificial insemination and by providing pedigree bulls for natural service.
5. Provide year-round assured market for the milk of the farmers unlike other agricultural produce.
6. Provide rural employment both as dairy farmers and as employees of the Milk Producers Cooperative Society (MPCS) as secretary/tester/helper.

Significant Achievements of Sikkim Milk Union Since Inception (1980)

1. The Sikkim Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd, the Apex Milk Cooperative of the state has successfully completed 36 years of operations in cooperative principles.
2. The procurement of Milk has grown from the level of 2000 Liters per day in the year 1980 to the present level of 33000 liters per day. Accordingly market has also grown up.

In the last two decades growth in the activities of Sikkim Milk Union can be seen below.
 

Year	Liquid Milk in 000 Kgs	Butter	Paneer	Churpi	Curd	Cream
00 - 01	2690	10570	2895	2072	412	206
01 - 02	3183	10320	5104	5166	459	921
02 - 03	3234	6357	3323	6315		9113
03 - 04	3184	9021	7568	3717	33865	14355
04 - 05	2561	8082	4196	1009	13989	11243
05 - 06	3068	17179	8686	5000	938	616
06 - 07	3612	19067	12988	4348	21739	536
07 - 08	3474	15399	12488	3154	26702	440
08 - 09	4056	12279	15948	4900	49400	198
09 - 10	4947	10945	16005	3846	59615	281
10 - 11	6051	13716	7382	4826	71445	130
11 - 12	7561	11959	10732	4979	120413	67
12 - 13	8702	10792	8784	5405	199068	113
13 - 14	9561	15161	15158	7311	209855	109
14 - 15	10289	18442	23190	9765	326007	97
15 - 16	11462	20539	29776	11117	354385	96

1. The processing capacity has gone from the 5000 LPD to the present level of 20000 LPD.
2. The number of village Milk Producers Cooperative Societies has gone up from 51 (in the year 1980) to the present level of 287 village Milk cooperative societies. Details of increase in milk cooperative societies in the last two decades are given below:

1. Accordingly milk collection centers have increased significantly. The members pouring milk to the union has grown up from 2000 in the year 1980 to the current levels of about 13237 members.

1. The Sikkim Milk Union has managed to earn profit since its inception. The bonus to the societies in the form of price difference is being distributed to the dairy farmers every year since achievement of profit.

2. In Sikkim for the first time, the Sikkim Milk Union represented a place in a National Level Body and became one of the Board of Directors of National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI) for a period of three years from 2008-09.

3. Milk price to the farmers is offered at very competitive rates. The milk price provided to the farmers is one of the highest in the country on fat and SNF basis.

4. Employee Gratuity Fund has been subscribed with the LIC to provide confidence among the employees and to avoid liabilities of the Union on this.

5. The Sikkim Milk Union has also been catering to the need of milk managed for Defense establishments since 2008 including the units in Algara, Kalimpong, in West Bengal.
The Sikkim Milk Union has now diversified its products to meet consumer’s requirements. Presently, Paneer, butter, chhurpi, Lassi, curd, cream are produced in addition to three varieties of liquid milk and introduced Ice cream, Flavoured Milk since the year 2009-10.

6.Asian Productivity Organization head quartered in Japan selected Sikkim Milk Union to develop into a Demonstration Companies in the year 2010.

In fact till 1994-95 north district was devoid of Dairy Development Programme. However, under the visionary leadership of the present government having realized the need of dairy development in such a remote tribal district initiated Dairy Development Programme. Therefore, Dairy Development Programme in North commenced w.e.f. 1996-97. Prior to this, the department implemented Dairy Development Programme in most primitive way by boiling the milk in can with firewood & cooling by natural tap water due to non availability of technical support/facilities. After 1996-97 one (1) TLPD capacity microtherm Unit having 900 LPH (litre per hour) capacity milk processing plant was established at Mangan during 1998. The Plant was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim Shri. Pawan Chamling. Similarly one (1) TLPD capacity IMCU (BMC) Milk Chilling Plant was established in Kabi during 1999-2000 and 0.5 TLPD BMC Milk Chilling Plant was established at lower Dzongu (Phidang). Further, 0.5 TLPD BMC milk chilling plant was established at Upper Dzongu (Mentam) and one (1) (2TLPD) capacity milk processing plant was established at Chungthang. At present more than 4500 LPD milk is processed in the plant.

The growth trend clearly demonstrates the efforts of the Department in this sector by intensive cattle breeding, induction of cross bred cows through various schemes and capacity building of dairy farmers.
The following graphs depicts significant growth trend in milk procurement and marketing.

Sikkim Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. (SDPPL) was formed in 1996 and registered under Sikkim Companies Act, 1961. Primarily, it is a farmer based developmental company initiated and promoted by the Indo Swiss Project Sikkim (ISPS) and Government of Sikkim (GOS) in order to help small and marginal dairy farmers of Dentam area.

The main objectives of the SDPPL, therefore, are to create a regular market for the surplus milk available in Dentam area, to support farmers in Clean Milk Production, and to improve the socio-economic condition of the farmers by providing them better returns of their milk.
 

Initially the project began with just two milk cooperative societies 150 members and collection of only 400 litres of milk per day and over the years the same has been increased and at present, it collects milk regularly from around 600 farmers through ten Milk Producers Cooperative Societies (MPCS). The farmers are regularly supported in improving milk production through Clean Milk Production Activities and Artificial Insemination (AI) Programme.
Initially the Company launched the product under brand name of ‘Alpine Cheese’ in Sikkim and other selected metropolitan cities of India. However, owing to marketing difficulties, in 2002, company outsourced its marketing tie up with the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) to enhance the marketing network of the product. Since then GCMMF is marketing gouda cheese outside Sikkim under the brand name of ‘Amul Gouda Cheese’.
Furthermore, in 2005, company diversified its product range by producing Cheese Spread and Frozen Diced Paneer for which there exists a large market in the country. Cheese plant is certified for codex based HACCP food safety system (i.e Hazard Analysis and Critical control Point System).
Over the years, production and sales of cheese has increased gradually from 10.5 ton during 1999-00 to around 35.0 ton in 2015-16. This reflects the positive trend in cheese production and marketing. Company has now attained the Cash Break Even Point.

                                  
Induction of Milch Cows

In order to augment the milk production of the state and to uplift the economic condition of the rural masses the government launched several missions like Dairy mission, Livestock self sufficiency mission etc. Capacity building and distribution of milch cows in cluster based approach were given the prime importance. The following table depicts the induction of high yielding milching cows in all the district of the states and the resultant impact of the same can also been seen in correlation with the increase of milk production and marketing in the state.
 

Sl.no.	Year	No. of Milch Cows Distributed	No. of Beneficiaries
1.	1994-1995	679 Nos.	679 Nos.
2.	2007-2008	232 Nos.	232 Nos.
3.	2008-2009	354 Nos.	354 Nos.
4.	2009-2010	686 Nos.	686 Nos.
5.	2010-2011	449 Nos.	449 Nos.
6.	2011-2012	433 Nos.	433 Nos.
7.	2014-2015	242 Nos.	242 Nos.

However, there had been parallel distribution of milching cows by different departments like Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management, Social Justice and Welfare and Zilla Parishads which are not accounted and shown in the given table.

Establishment of Modern Mother Dairy Farm At Karfectar In South Sikkim

To modernize the dairy sector, State Government has set up of a model mother dairy farm at Karfectar, South Sikkim, the foundation stone of which was laid by Hon’ble Chief Minister on 10th Dec’ 2009. The farm has been established with an objective to act as ready demonstration unit of a modern dairy farm and to produce high yielding heifer for farmers distribution. Practical hands on training for in-service departmental officials as well as progressive dairy farmers are been carried out.
 

The Laying of foundation stone for the Mother Diary Project at karfectar Farm was laid by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim on 10th December 2009. The inaugural function was also attended by Hon’ble Minister, Secretary and senior officer of the department as well as official from South district. During the programme bucket type milking machine was also demonstrated.
 

Karfectar farm has total Area of 29 hectare and out of which 20 hectare area has been earmarked for extensive fodder cultivation under th Mother Diary project implemented under Rashtriya krishi Yojana a centrally sponsored scheme of Government of India. Out of this 20 hectare area 5 hectare area was earmarked for complete land development programme during the financial year of 2009-2010 for planting the perennial as well as the seasonal fodder crops. The earmarked 5 hectare area was quite sloppy uncultivated and completely covered by various types of trees, shrubs, bushes, removing the trees, breaking and removing the boulders and stones, terracing the area, ploughing the area by bullocks, planting the various types of perennial grasses and seasonal crops. The infrastructure development particularly construction  of sheds are under progress.

Diary Development North District
 

During Eleventh Five Year Plan (2008-09 to 2012-13) in order to carry out Dairy Development Programme in North District, Govt. of India sanctioned an outlay of Rs.274.45 lakhs under Intensive Dairy Development Programme 100% CSS. The IDDP Scheme is for a period of 5 years and it is being implemented by North District Milk Producers Cooperative Union Ltd. (NDMU Ltd.) .NDMU Ltd. was born on 27.3.2008 under State Cooperative Act 1978.

Major achievements under NDMU Ltd. during 2009-10 are summarized as under:

1. Mangan Milk Processing Plant which had a processing capacity of 900 Ltrs./Hr Microtherm Unit & which was established during 20 May 1998, major replacement of Plant & machineries with 2 TLPD capacity HTST System including the inclusion of a new IBT System was initiated. In addition to this Mangan Plant which is a Mother Plant for whole North District was revitalize with processing equipment like steam boiler, refrigeration unit with cold storage for milk, milk packaging machines and online S.S.Milk Chiller. All above works were initiated including civil Works within the existing Mangan Milk Processing Plant.NDMU Ltd. initiated the above works as per the prescribed physical & financial guidelines of GOI under IDDP & these changes within Mangan Plant was technically necessary as such milk processing facilities were not provided under IDDP when Mangan Plant was established under CSS during 1998.

2. Daily Milk procurement & marketing under NDMU Ltd. was ava 1000 Ltrs. NDMU Ltd. couldn't increase the procurement & marketing activities due to the complete installation works of Plant & machineries including Civil Works within existing Mangan Plant.

3. The cow induction programme 100 Nos. with 50:50 (50% GOI & 50% SISCO Bankable were initiated.

4. Establishment of an Administrative Building at Mangan for NDMU Ltd. under TSP was approved.

5. Establishement of 3 nos. Heifer sheds at a total cost of Rs.15.00 lakhs was approved.

6. A Total number of 35 Nos. milk collection/DCS are functioning within NDMU Ltd.

7. Milk procurement activities and supplies of polypacked pure cows milk was initiated within Chungthang sub-division which is a difficult Boarder Area in North District.

8. Regular supplies of subsidized transport costs cattle feeds are being supplied to Milk Producers.

9. Despite higher transport cost, expensive field management activities the Management of NDMU Ltd. is implementing Dairying Programme in North District as per its objectives laid down in its Bye-laws. Although NDMU Ltd. is only 2 yrs old & it is still under Developing stage but it has already started reaching benefits of Dairying to its producers in the remotest parts of North District which perhaps is the ultimate objective of creating NDMU Ltd.The procurement & marketing activities will surely increase within this financial year 2010-11.

Sikkim Co-operative Milk Producers Union (Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim 737102)

On the merger of Sikkim with the Indian Dominion in 1975 the then Governor of Sikkim Shri B.B.Lal initiated the idea of forming a Co-operative Milk Union in Sikkim, probably being encouraged with the success that had been achieved in the State of Gujarat. Therefore, the matter was taken up with Dr..V.Kurien, the then Chairman of National Dairy Development Board(NDDB) who also paid a visit to Sikkim in 1977 as a guest of the State. After discussion with the State Government Dr.Kurien agreed to implement “Anand Pattern” Co-operative societies in Sikkim. Accordingly, from 1978 the Spear Head Team of NDDB started working in the three districts of the State viz East, West and South. Prior to this, Sikkim Livestock Development Corporation (SLDC) looked after the dairying business since its existence in 1977. Ultimately, on 1.7.1980, Sikkim Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited was formed after being registered under the State Co-operative Societies Act, 1978 and having taken over the project from NDDB, it started functioning at the present complex at 5th Mile, Tadong and at Karfectar, Jorethang w.e.f. November 1981, as an apex level (two-tier) Organisation of the primary Milk Producers' Co-operative Societies (MPCS) at village level. The Sikkim Milk Union came into being during the Operation Flood II programme of the NDDB and was established through financial assistance by the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation (IDC) and technical guidance of the implementing agency, the NDDB.

Organizational Philosophy

The primary aim of the Sikkim Milk Union is to provide remunerative market for milk producers in the far-flung remote villages and make hygienic milk and milk products available to the urban consumers at reasonable rates thereby achieving the following objectives:

1. Stabilize price of milk by connecting areas of surplus milk to the milk-deficient towns and cities.

2. Uplift the socio-economic condition of the rural poor by increasing their income through sale of their milk.

3. Enhance milk production of milch animals by providing technical inputs such as balanced milch ration, fodder seeds, fodder saplings thus helping to increase the income of the farmers.

4. Enhance milk yield of the milch cattle of the farmers by improving their genetic potential through artificial insemination and by providing pedigree bulls for natural service.

5. Provide year-round assured market for the milk of the farmers unlike other agricultural produce.

6. Provide rural employment both as dairy farmers and as employees of the MPCS as Secretary/Tester/Helper.

Significant Achievements of Sikkim Milk Union In The Year 2009-10

For the third consecutive year, the Sikkim Milk Union has earned profit. The bonus to the societies in the form of price difference and employees in the form of ex-gratia for the year 2008 - 09 was distributed in the 13th AGM held on 28th August 09. The bonus price difference to the societies for the year 2009 - 10 will be distributed during the 14th AGM to be held tentatively in the month of August/September 2010.

The Sikkim for the first time in the History of Sikkim Milk union, Sikkim Milk Union represented a place in a National Level body and became one of the Board of Directors of National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI).

A hike of milk price to the farmers to the tune of over 70.6% increase with the revision of only 50% increase in selling price within a period of three years.
First time in the history of Sikkim Milk Union, Employee Gratuity Fund has been subscribed with the LIC to provide confidence among the employees and to avoid liabilities of the Union on this.