Presenting the sector paper on dairying on the concluding day of the Agro Advantage Maharashtra Global Investors' Conference here on Monday, Khan said that the per capita availability of milk in the country would touch 285 grams a day up from the current 185 grams. The per capita nutritional requirement is 220 grams per day.

"The country which was milk deficient in the not too distant past is now on the verge of beating even the United States in milk production," Khan said.In order to capitalise on the huge available potential, Khan urged entrepreneurs to take note of the many untapped opportunities present in dairy-related fields. He emphasised the need for proper management and technology for testing and transporting milk.

The dairydevelopment commissioner has said that the total turnover of cooperative milk producers in the country during 1995 was estimated at Rs 34 billion against a total investment of Rs 16 billion. In terms of output, the country produced 66 million tonnes of milk valued at Rs 53 million, he said.

Maharashtra, the largest cow milk producer in the country, produces around 15 million litres of milk per day. He said that the state has a strong cooperative network in addition to processing and marketing infrastructure with linkages to private and government sectors. The milk collected each day by the cooperative sector accounts for 40 per cent of the total milk produced in the state at around four million tonnes.

Khan forecast a good demand growth for liquid milk and dairy products in view of changes in the family economics and enhanced purchasing power.

Also the growth in population, technological progress in processing and packaging, and increasing awareness on health and variety of products in the market aresome of the causes spurring growth in the dairy sector, Khan said.

On the export front, the state dairy development commissioner has said that the General Agreement on Trade & Tariff (Gatt) will give a thrust to global trade in dairy products. He said that the world trade in dairy products is expected to grow from the current levels of 28 million tonnes to 32 million tonnes by the turn of the century.

Khan said that India and New Zealand were the only two countries which had a low production cost for milk.

He highlighted the need for strengthening the country's position in the domestic markets in view of the World Trade Organisation's call for a reduction in support prices of products.

"There are ample export opportunities for dairy products to the middle and south-east Asian countries, South Africa and to the Pacific Rim countries," he said. He added that the milk production growth and domestic consumption trends indicate a possible exportable surplus of around 100,000 tonnes of dairy products byyear 2000.

Earlier, YPS Tomar, state commissioner, animal husbandry, has said that the state has seen a phenomenal 334.34 per cent growth in milk output from crossbred cattle from 332,000 metric tonnes in 1985-86 to 1,442,000 metric tonnes in 1996-97. Arun Narke, chairman of Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh Ltd also spoke.