Add Aussie technolo y to Indian milk, stir wel

New collaborations are set to open up between Indian and Australia in the dairy industry

Ahigh -level 16 member lnclian dairy business del egation visited Australia this month to explore potential collaboration oppommities.

The delegation was l ed by Yes Bank, India's fourth largest private sector bank, and was supported by Austrade.

Ausa:ade bas recently signed a Mem orandt1m of Understanding witl1 Yes Bank's Food and Agribusiness Strategic Advisory & Research Group (FASAR) ro offer Australian experience ro improve the prodt1ctivity and exports of India's food and agricuJnu-al sector, inclu ding the dairy secror, as India addresses its food security concerns.

The delegacion, representing some of the la rgest dair y companies in India, roured Australian research institutes, farms and dairy companies to ll!1derstand technologies for possible use in In dia.

The I ndian delegacion was made up of ch ief operating officers of agri business concerns and NGOs, agri commodities experts, research scientists, veteri nary scientists and entrepreneurs in the dairy industty from across the cotmcry. They belonged to cooperative and private datry sector companies such as the International Food Policy Research Institute (lFPRJ), ITC Ltd, Gopaljee Dairy Foods, Deshpande Fopndation, Lakshya Foods, Rajkot Dair y of the J\.mul uoion Paras Dairy, Asad Farms and Kiaro Farms.

T r aveling ro Melbourne and Brisbane, delegates gained an insight into Australian dairy farming, process ing technology, waste management, breeding, and research and practice in generics

"I'm excited abour the possibilities in two particular aspects," Nitin Puri, speaking on behalf of the delegation, to ld Indian Link at the end of it all "These are farming procedures and genetics. There's a Inc of scope for us to learn from Australia here, and there are significant possibilities for business collaborations as we ll ".

Puri is the head of FASAR, a divis ion of Yes Bank which focuses on consulting, advisory, pol.i cy and research i n food a nd agriculture, working in the multinational, Indian corporate, government and multilateral space.

"India is the largest producer and consumer of milk in the world at 140 million ronnes per day:' Puri said. "This means that while we are self- suf6c.ient in dairy, we are not really exporting. Australia on the other hand, produces one- tenth of what we produce, bur exports half of it, thanks to its expe r tise in processing and livesroc k development".

Another stark difference in tl,e Indian and the Australian industry is in farm size. "In Ind ia, tl,ere would be about t\vo to tlrree cows per farmer," Puri observed " Here, it is hundred ti m es that number.

A natural advantage is pasture areas filled w i th open grass We d o n't have tl1at, sadly; and because we have co make it up with consolidated feed, cost structures become involved. The yield size, currently ar 6- 7 litres per farmer per day, is scagnating. \'(/e are not following good practices to see a substantial increase. In AL1st1·alia, even though the number of farms have gone down i n recent times, the herd s ize per farm bas gone up, tripled LO many cases, so the farms have sc al ed up rneLr operacions".

Unlike Australia which is very strong on value-added lo n ger shelf-life products su ch as cheese and specialised milk powders (it is the world's fourth largest exporter of processed dairy products), the lndian consumprion is in liquid milk only. But with an increase in health consciousness and Ii festyle in me expanding Indian middle class, this need for value- add i s growing, and so the domestic market will start seeing a shortage too.

India's Nationa l Dairy Development Board has forecast milk dernand to touch 180- 200 million ro nnes by the e nd of 2020.

Yet a National Dairy Pl an (NDP) drawn up in 2010 proposes ro neatly doub le India's milk production b y that time Fommately, stakeholders are eager ro bring in momentum ro see thjs through "Unlike otl1er areas of food production, dairy is far mo re evo lved in Lidia," Puri n oted "No doubt this is because of me inAuences of co -operatives such as Amnl Ln the I 960s, and more recently, the involvement of the private secto r Storage, for example, is at par witl1 global practices, as opposed to grains wbkb i s under gover nmen t control".

Changes have also been induced by factors like easy credit facilities and dairy friendly polic ies by tl1e government, so that dairy farming is less agrarian and more a professionally managed industry.

''We are currently on the lookout for initiatives to have a mar ketab le surplus in the nexr five to seven years".

A.nd this, he is su re, wtl.l come from herd genetics

"Genetics will be a g ame changer. \\:,' hat we've learnt in Australia t h is tr ip has bee n a revelation for us. I'm foreseeing that with Australian technology help ing us in farming method s and in genetics, we will be ab le to Lncrease our production substantially".

Australia showed off its dairy expertise and techno logy to India at tl,e Dair y Sh ow i n H yderabad earlier this year. Ir provided an engagement mode.I to conueCL witl, the Indian .industry using the global PRETSS approach (o ffering expertise in polic y, research , equipment, technology, services and skills).

Here's to another white revolution in India, with a bit of help from Australia.

Adelaide architecture students take a study tour to India and Nepal

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architecmre studen ts have beate n the Feds to the punch. The ew Co lombo Plan (NC P) was roUed out by the Federal Government in 20 I4. Its objective is to "life knowledge of the lndo-Pacific in Australia a n d strengthen people- to - people and institutional relations". India was not even co be considered until the wider roll- out in 2015. lnteresti.ngly, the University of Adelaide's School of Architecture 14 decided to take the matter into their own hands b y setting om an India project. Their ' India Studio: Collaboration in Design' m iss ion ,vas designed with overall aim s remarkably in line with those of the NCP b ut on a narrower focus, and incl uded a visit by their architecture students to India.

M ore recentl y, a differen t group of students has visited Nepal as part of their course for a project to construct buildings for mothers' groups o n two different sites in the mountains north of Kathmandu.

The groups were led by Dr Am.it Srivastava, Lecturer in the School of Architecn1re. The India Studio project was developed in coJJ aborati.on witl1 Prof Rajat Ray of the Susbant Schoo l of Architecmre in Delhi. The s mdents a lso had the o ppornmity to visit Agra, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh

The observations of the Adelaide students provide an interesting window o n meir peers in India and Indian architecture in general Smdeors with bo undless energy need to be kept occupied, so one of the aims of the India Smdio in Delhi was to work alo n gside local architecture s tudents on a design project based in Delhi The .idea here was to come up with designs for tl1e redevelopment of an o ld textile mill site in North Delhi

This stroke of gen.ius led to students getting to learn more abouc each otl1er Adela.ide smdent Jesse recalled, "S tudents atSushant were enthusiastic and pass ionately opin.ionated. rt was eye-opening to see the way in wh.ich the)' interacted during smdio sessions, wi th great endrnsiasm and sometimes brutal honesty"

The visit to Chandigarh was one o f the h ighlights of the Indian trip. As is weU known, this northern city was created as part of first Prime i'Vuo.ister JawaharlaJ Nehru's grand vision for a modern lndia. Ir was a massive project especiaUy for its time and came to symbolise hope for d1e fumre a rchitecmraJ landscape of India.

Adelaide students Lana and Marguerite saw Le Corbus ier's Chandigarh as an exampl e of a large scale project created by the masters that exemplify modercistic tendencies d1at d.idn't disengage from di e human scale.

Daniel's reAection was somewhat different. "While planning a city can be incred.ibly im portant for d1e success and good - working of a city, it does n ot itself mean that the city is 'successful'," he noted. "1,Cuch of the quirky and culmtalJ)' rich elements we saw in the other Indian cities, were no t present in Chandigarh".

He added, " The most beautiful part of Chandigarh was the Rock Garden, where Indifill culnu:e, materials and a r tistry was on display"

The sn1dencs were also pleased to meet Nek Chand Saini, the creatnr of the famous Rock Garden.

It was not all work and no play. Any excuse will do to explore d1e Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The srndents enjoyed clambering all over the structures Bui.It b y Mahataja Jai Singh of Jaipur, the site is a marvel of architectural and engineering design. J\1d10ugh it was built for the scienti fie pursuit of astronom}; it conjures np an image of almost being a p laything or a ' foll y' Other p laces of interest visited inc luded the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb in Delhi.

Cities in Ind ia have typically developed organically over long periods of time. Beset with d1e problems of a developing country, urban planning tends to disp lay haphazard tendencies and this was reflected in die opinions of die smdents.

For instance, Jesse observed, "Many of die more recent developmenrs and newer buildings in d1e large ci ties often seemed disconnected and lacked a thor ough understanding or representation of die context".

Daniel on the other hand, ,vas impressed by the Akshardham Temple and the Lotus Temple in De lhi but felt chat the bu.iidings o f Gurgaon "were the uninspiring soldiers standing co attention in rows co accommodate more pe.oplein chese indivi dual, but coo - familiar monoliths".

What stood out for Lana and Jvfarguerite were me "predominantly gated and often guarded" build ings, "creatin g Li ttle is lands of modernistic architecture where the chaos of Jndia seemed co panse".

Bur the plains of India were a l ong way from the cranguil setting in the moumains o f Nepal, which was die destination for the second group of architecture students from the U niversi ty of Adelaide. The project to assist in the construction of two mod1ers' group haUs was undertaken with th e NGOs Aussie.Action Abroad and Architecture Wichour Frontiers. The 23 smdents were split into two groups; one travelled to the Khudi So u th site and tl1e other to the T aal site The project was co use simple techniques with local materials and mainl y manual labour in the construction.

It was fascinating to hear the views of tl1ree students Scott, As h leigh and Char lotte on tl1eir experienc es in Nepal. Ash leigh mentioned that she ·'didn't know what to expect" and so felt quite. upset b y the culture shock. AU three were struck b y tl1e simplicity of d1e Nepalese people's lives and their generosity.

There is always a risk that such 'flying visits' can be just for self-gratification o f die visitors widi no re.al benefit for tl1e local population. But the responses dispelled tl1is n otio n.

Firstly, in this case, die money being spent did go cowards the benefit of the local community Secondly, it helped me relationship, even if sligh tl y, between Austral ia and Nepal.

In me b igger picture, what stands out as the most important benefit here, is mat d1e visit by the students gave hope to che people chey met.

Finally, of course, is tl1e practical aspect in tl1ac the halls are now being used by mothers and rnn b y die local people d1emselves. The haUs will be a lasring memory to die contribution of a handful of Adelaide srudenrs t o the future lives of die Nepalese community.

Any v isit to Nepal is incomplete wid1our a diet of daal-hbat and a trek. So our two groups went on 5-day organised treks accompanied b y guides. The s tudems also visited the historic city of Bhaktipur which they fo tmd guite fascinating. They noted the Roman like influence in die construction in the wide use of bricks even on tbe roads.

The Nepal trip was brought co a close widi a flourish by means of an exhibition in i'Vlay. This transported tl1e colour, feel and atmosphere of d1e mountains and its people to Adelaide and showed glin1pses o f the work done by the students.

For d1e future, the School of Architecmre is very like ly to maintain its Links w ith the subcontinent. When asked if d1ey wouJd go back to India and Nepal, t he ove r-riding response was positive. Such visits help develop unigue bo nd s Somed1.ing of onesel f i s left behind: a mark, a memory or a moment, in exchange for someth ing taken, to be cherished or recalled in years to come.