Food Marketing & Technology - India May 2019 | Page 51

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Tell us about ICAR-NDRI and its
scope of work.
ICAR-National
Dairy
Research
Institute (NDRI) at Karnal, Haryana
is one of the premier Institutes in the
dairy sector which have contributed
a lot in the growth of dairy industry
and played a crucial role in milk
production of India with its continuous
research. The institute has developed
considerable expertise over the last
five decades in different areas of dairy
production, processing, management
and human resource development.
The primary goal of the Institute is
to provide R&D support towards
generation and dissemination of
knowledge for the development of
national milch herd, milk production
enhancement, greater productivity of
dairy industry, and upliftment of dairy
profession leading to socio-economic
and environmental benefits to the
nation as well as to contribute towards
manpower development programmes.
The Institute has the following mandate:
• Conducting research in the areas of
dairy production, processing and
marketing;
• Demand-driven ‘Human Resource
Development’
to
meet
the
requirements of Dairy Industry and
R&D Institutions;
• Dissemination of Innovative dairy
technologies.
The institute has made concerted
efforts to protect its Intellectual
Property with a very impressive
record of patent filing and grant
of patents over the last few years.
Would you please tell us about
the number of patents filed by
the institute and how many are
granted till date?
To manage the intellectual properties
of the Institute, an Institute Technology
Management Unit (ITMU) is working
actively. The Institute has filed 34
patents in the last six years and 16
patents have been granted. A total of
20 patents have been granted to NDRI
till date.
Throw some light on the
institute’s extension programmes
for transferring the know-how
from the laboratory to the farmers
The Institute is transferring the know-
how developed in the laboratory to
various stakeholders. The Field/Farm
Technician (FFT) Laboratory of Dairy
Extension Division provides a base for
extension work in the adopted villages
around Karnal and keeps the records of
all extension activities of the institute.
The main objectives of these extension
programmes are: to acquire skill in
organising field extension activities; to
facilitate the scientists to test the field
applicability of their innovations; and
to improve the knowledge and skill
of farmers regarding scientific dairy
practices so as to enable them to adopt
the same.
NDRI has developed various
technologies for enhancing
milk production, manufacture
of high value and healthy
milk products and ensuring
quality and safety of milk
& products. How are these
technologies commercialised to
the stakeholders such as: farmers;
cooperative institutions; dairy
and food industries; etc?
The technologies developed by
the scientists at the Institute using
various innovative approaches and
state of art facilities are released to
the stakeholders only after proper
validation. For entrepreneurs and
dairy industry, NDRI technologies
are commercialised through ITMU.
ITMU at ICAR-NDRI has compiled
the technologies developed at NDRI
in the form of a publication titled
“Technologies Available at NDRI for
Commercialisation”. The Institute
also continues to share its innovative
dairy processing technologies with
the Indian dairy industry through the
Consultancy Processing Cell. Some
of the technologies that have been
recently transferred include: rapid tests
for detection of various adulterants
Food Marketing & Technology
51
May 2019
in milk; rapid tests for detection of
antibiotics & pesticides residues in
milk; anionic mineral mixture for dairy
animals; Arjuna herbal ghee; a process
for preparation of low cholesterol
ghee; DNA based test for species
differentiation of milk; bajra lassi;
whey based products; innovative dairy
cultures; etc.
Dairy Farmers have played a
significant role in ushering the
white revolution of the country.
They always remain as the
central theme of all the R&D
activities of the Institute. Share
more details on this.
For dairy farmers, the Institute is
running and an ambitious programme
named “Farmers Farm School”
wherein farmers of Haryana state are
being provided formal education in
the field of Dairying and Agriculture.
In this School, farmers interact with
the scientists of the Institute through
classroom teaching as well as practical
classes. The main objective of Farmers
Farm School is to provide all relevant
and latest information related to
Animal Husbandry and Agriculture,
etc. and to disseminate the latest
research done by scientists involving
lab to land programme.
The other programmes being run for
farmers include: Awareness campaign
& Animal health camp; Dairy
Education at Farmers’ Door; Kisan
Sangoshties; etc. In the Dairy Education
at Farmer’s Door, every second
Saturday, a multidisciplinary team
of NDRI Scientists and Technicians
visit villages around Karnal and try to
solve the problems of dairy farmers.
Apart from this, Krishi Vegan Kendras
(KVK) situated at NDRI campus and
the Regional Campuses of the Institute
also provide training to the farmers.
How do you inform stakeholders
about the technologies that are
available for commercialisation?
NDRI
organises
an
Institute-
Industry Meet every year wherein