CPPCC members appeal for greater support for dairy industry's healthy development

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2015-03-11

The dairy industry is the most mature green processing industry of farm and livestock products in Inner Mongolia.

How should we maintain the healthy and sustainable development of the dairy industry?

In 2014, the output value of the cow-raising sector in Inner Mongolia accounted for 21.1 percent of the agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fishing sectors. Dairy processing accounted for 7.8 percent of the agricultural and livestock processing industry. The dairy industry involves more than 600,000 households, which saw net income of nearly 6 billion yuan ($959.4 million), accounting for 6 percent of per capita disposable income of farmers and herdsmen in the whole autonomous region.

The two giants in the dairy processing sector, namely Yili Group and Mengniu Group, have a combined output value of more than 100 billion yuan, with the former ranking 10th place and the latter 15th place in the world in terms of sales volume. With supporting policies from the State, enterprises in the dairy industry in China have, in a proactive manner, engaged in the transformation and upgrading of the industry in recent years for better momentum of development.

Since the kickoff of the construction of large-scale standardized cow farms in the region from 2008, the central government has allocated Inner Mongolia a total budgetary appropriation of 750 million yuan, which has helped to expand 1,053 cow farms following the requirements of large-scale standardized cow farms. As a result, cow farming has gradually shifted from the extensive mode to the intensive one. With the centralization and standardization of cow farming, cows have been raised in an increasingly better way, and the quality of milk has been increasingly improved. As a result, the material costs and labor costs have continued to rise. On the other hand, the price of milk has been constantly falling, which exacerbates cow-keepers difficulties.