Dairying represents one of the fastest returns for livestock keepers
in the developing world. It provides regular returns to farmers, especially
to women, enhances household nutrition and food security, creates
off-farm employment – as many as one job for each 20 litres
of milk processed and marketed. The highest growth in demand for milk
and dairy products has been, and continues to be, in the Asia-Pacific
region where dairy consumption has trebled since 1980, contributing
nearly two-thirds of global consumption gains. However, while consumption
has grown seven percent annually, gains have been uneven across the
region.
In
many countries gains by dairy industry stakeholders have also been
uneven and local production has not kept pace with demand. More recently,
the prices of internationally traded dairy commodities, upon which
many Asia countries still depend, have become very volatile and, in
some cases, almost doubled.
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