Anand: Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Monday launched NDDB Mrida Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of the National Dairy Development Board to take forward manure management initiatives across the country.

With the encouragement and approval of the Central Government, NDDB established NDDB Mrida Limited, an Unlisted Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 2013 on July 1, 2022, with a paid-up capital of Rs. 9.50 crore.

On the occasion, Rupala said “NDDB Mrida Ltd will open avenues of additional income to dairy farmers from the sale of slurry/ dung in addition to savings to the farmers by replacement of cooking fuel with biogas. Until now, isolated and individual efforts are being made for better utilisation of cow dung. However, this new company will provide structured impetus to cow dung-based manure management efforts.”

Also, promoting the usage of cow dung-based manure will gradually lead to the replacement of chemical fertilisers with organic manure thereby reducing India’s dependency on imports, the Union minister further said.

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan who was also present at the event said “the manure management initiatives have the potential to generate biogas equivalent to 50 per cent of India’s present LPG consumption & also produce bio-slurry equivalent to 44 per cent of India’s NPK requirement.

“This is a first-of-its-kind company focussing on the efficient utilisation of dung by creating a manure management value chain which will immensely contribute to enhancing the livelihoods of dairy farmers at the same time contribute towards Swachh Bharat Mission and promotion of green energy,” said Dr L Murugan, MoS Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

The company will undertake research and development on cost-effective technologies for efficient cow dung management and a major area of focus will be establishing revenue generation models at the village level through the sale of cattle dung-based products. The company will provide marketing and sale support to agencies manufacturing gobar-gas slurry-based fertilisers and establish mechanisms to accrue carbon revenue from the projects to generate an additional revenue stream for dairy farmers.

Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, DAHD, Govt. of India, Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB, Ms Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary (CDD), DAHD, Govt. of India and Shri Sandeep Bharti, newly-appointed Managing Director of NDDB MRIDA Limited also presided the event.

DeshGujarat