New Delhi: Around 10,000 biogas plants will be installed across 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, over the next four years as part of a circular dairy programme to be implemented jointly by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Bangalore-based NGO Sustain Plus. “We have signed MoUs with over 26 milk unions across 15 states in India, with dairy cooperative network acting as a powerful platform for scale, this model can be replicated across states, making India’s dairy sector not just the world’s largest, but also among the most sustainable,” Sustain Plus Director Ganesh Neelam in a statement.
Sustain Plus is a collaborative platform founded by Social Alpha, CInI and SELCO Foundation, dedicated to deploying sustainable innovations to improve rural livelihoods in India.
Neelam said the latest partnership with NDDB aims to empower dairy farmers, particularly women, by providing access to clean cooking fuel and nutrient-rich bio-slurry for soil enrichment.
The circular dairy programme, launched recently in the presence of Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, targets to create climate-smart dairy villages and build scalable and sustainable farming practices across India.
The setting of 10,000 biogesters is expected to generate 3 lakh tonnes of organic slurry annually, improving soil health and reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.
They will also produce more than 7 million cubic metres of biogas every year, providing clean cooking fuel to 10,000 rural households.
In addition, the programme will enable the production of nearly 60,000 tonnes of Phosphate Rich Organic Manure (PROM) each year, replacing an equivalent quantity of chemical phosphate fertilisers, further supporting affordable and sustainable farming practices.
By integrating biogas plants, solar-powered dairy operations, and efficient milk collection systems, the programme will help reduce input costs, improve soil health for dairy farmers, provide clean cooking fuel to rural households, and create new income opportunities through organic fertiliser and carbon credits, the statement said.
