India aims to boost milk yields as demand surges and shortage looms

New Delhi

THE fate of India's milk revolution is packed inside 3-litre, nitrogen-cooled tanks like the one Rajeev Rana carries around rural Uttar Pradesh on the back of his motorbike.

Inside Mr Rana's canister are tubes of frozen bull semen the government is distributing to farmers. It's part of a plan to accelerate expansion of a dairy herd that soon will be unable to produce enough in the world's biggest milk-consuming country. With demand rising faster than domestic supply, India will become a net importer by 2020, ending decades of self-sufficiency, according to agricultural services provider Cargill Inc.