SRINAGAR: The government has said that the Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS), launched in 2020–21, has emerged as a major initiative in boosting milk production, promoting entrepreneurship, and building modern dairy infrastructure across Jammu and Kashmir. The information was shared in the Legislative Assembly during the Question Hour.
According to official data tabled in the House, the scheme has led to the establishment of 13,526 dairy-related units over the past five years, with a cumulative investment of about Rs 150 crore. The Minister informed that these units include 12,151 dairy farms, 336 milk vans, 498 milking machines, 46 bulk milk coolers, and 27 automatic milk collection units (AMCUs). The initiative has also facilitated the setting up of 58 value-addition units for producing items such as curd, paneer, ghee, khoya and ice cream, besides 29 milk vending machines, five milk parlours, seven modular milk pasteurisation-cum-packaging plants, 174 vermi-compost units, four biogas plants, one dairy sewage treatment plant, and two cow-dung log-making units.
The government said the scheme has generated sustainable employment for over 16,000 individuals, significantly contributing to rural income generation and entrepreneurship. “The IDDS has played a pivotal role in transforming the dairy sector in Jammu and Kashmir by integrating small and marginal farmers into a modern, value-driven dairy economy,” the reply noted.
The government also informed the Assembly about the rollout of Revised Operational Guidelines of IDDS-2025, designed to make the scheme more transparent, digitally monitored, and environmentally sustainable. The updated framework focuses on five objectives — enhancing milk production through modern dairy units, strengthening milk processing and marketing infrastructure, promoting scientific animal waste management, generating sustainable rural livelihoods, and ensuring transparency through digital monitoring.
Under the revised guidelines, assistance will be extended for the establishment of dairy units comprising two to twenty animals, setting up milk processing and chilling facilities, supporting marketing and transportation infrastructure such as milk ATMs and refrigerated vans, and funding environmental management systems like biogas plants, effluent treatment units, and vermi-composting pits.
The IDDS-2025 also introduces a milestone-based subsidy framework, offering a fifty per cent capital subsidy disbursed over two years in three stages linked to two lactation cycles. The progress and verification of each stage will be monitored through the Bharat Pashudhan milk-recording portal and a real-time digital output-tracking app.
Highlighting a major reform, the government said that dairy farmers across the Union Territory — from Kathua and R.S. Pura in Jammu to other northern districts — will benefit equally through a digital and transparent procurement system. “The revised approach under IDDS-2025 ensures inclusivity by enabling both local and outside breeders to participate through a regulated digital marketplace instead of a geographically restrictive procurement policy,” the department said.
This new mechanism, officials said, will help maintain the health, productivity, and genetic quality of dairy animals while ensuring that every farmer, regardless of region, has equal access to scheme benefits.
The Integrated Dairy Development Scheme, the government noted, has now evolved from a production-oriented subsidy model into a comprehensive, digitally integrated framework aimed at self-reliance, quality assurance, and environmental sustainability in Jammu and Kashmir’s growing dairy sector.
