It's high time the world shifts to A2 milk

If only these children were to be given A2 milk to drink 

Sale of healthy A2 milk in Britain and Ireland has reached £ 1 million in just one year after its launch. A2 milk is now available in 1000 stores across UK and Ireland, including big retailers like Tesco, Morrison and Co-op. In Australia and New Zealand, A2 milk is now the fastest growing with a share of 8 per cent of the milk market, the sales increasing by 57 per cent in a year.

 

This is not a promotion for yet another brand of milk. A2 is actually a beta-casein protein in the milk – A2 allele gene – that makes milk healthy and nutritious. What makes it more significant and relevant for us is that all domestic cow and buffalo breeds – often labeled as desi – contain A2 allele gene. In other words, 100 per cent of milk of desi cattle breeds contains the A2 allele making it richer in nutrients and much healthier than the milk of exotic cattle breeds.

 

If you are not drinking A2 milk, the chances are that in the long term you are likely to suffer from allergies, diabetes, obesity and cardio-vascular diseases. While the exotic cattle breeds may be producing higher milk but because of the concentration of A1 allele gene in their bodies, the milk they produce is much inferior in quality. As per a report in The Telegraph, London, the commonly consumed milk contains A1 allele leading to allergies, causing bloating, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and constipation.

 

Accordingly, a study published last month in the scientific journal Infant has linked A1 milk with increased risk of type 1 diabetes in some infants, adverse immune responses, digestive disorders and respiratory dysfunction. It is primarily for the health advantages that A2 milk offers that singer Dannii Minogue, who was faced with digestive disorders, has now become a brand ambassador for the A2 milk.  

 

In Australia and New Zealand, the sale of A2 milk has zipped beyond expectations, raising the share market for Freedom Foods, one of the best performing dairy companies. Pepsi Foods too has been on the forefront, and now plans to take A2 milk to the European market outside Britain. Meanwhile, China too has emerged as a strong market for A2 milk after the scandal surrounding the sale of spurious baby milk powder some years back. It is expected, China’s intake of A2 milk in the rapidly growing infant food market will double by 2020.

 

Meanwhile, studies by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal, have established the superiority of A2 milk in Indian breeds. In a detailed study scanning 22 desi breeds recently, it found A2 allele to be 100 per cent available in the five high-yielding milk breeds – Red Sindhi, Gir, Rathi, Shahiwal and Tharparkar. In the remaining breeds, the availability of A2 allele gene was 94 per cent. Comparatively, in the exotic breeds Jersey and Holstein Friesian, the availability of A2 allele gene was only 60 per cent. 

 

Although a lot of excitement was expressed some months back, when Pakistan gifted a high-yielding Nili-Ravibuffalo to the visiting deputy chief minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, it is high time Punjab takes a lead in promoting and making available A2 milk. With an average consumption of about 944 grams per day, Punjab does top the chart as far as milk intake in concerned. But it is the quality of the milk that should now be the hallmark of every dairy development expansion plan.

 

The economic cost of promoting desi breeds, even if the Indian domestic breeds are relatively low producing compared to some of the exotic breeds, is relatively much higher given the health advantages, especially in a population where diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, allergies, digestive disorders are on an upswing. Since A2 milk builds up immunity, it certainly offers a big advantage over the commonly sold milk. Punjabis would be willing to pay a premium if the Milkfed begins to sell A2 milk in pouches. At the same time, promotion for A2 milk will help farmers shift to traditional breeds which very well integrate with natural farming systems. Promotion of A2 milk will also make hundreds of gaushalas spread across the State turn economically viable. #

What a stupid idea, Sir ji. Dehydrated onions is not what Indians need.

Chopping onions, and dehydrating them is not the answer to the price spiral India witnessed recently

Not only far-fetched, it's a stupid idea. I am referring to Ashok Gulati (who happens to be the chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) article: Onions at Rs 20/Kg? Not so far-fetched (Times of India, Oct 27, 2013,http:// bit.ly/HmuTtG ). The article begins by saying: "If I say that I am ready to supply onions, in an improvised form, at Rs 20 Kg home delivered, and round the year, people may think I have gone crazy or I am dipping into the general exchequer to pull off a massive subsidy scheme for onions. Wrong. I will make a cool profit of 15-20 per cent in this deal, do a great service to consumers and farmers of this country, and perhaps also help our policy makers under tremendous pressure following public outrage sparked by the rising onion prices."  

I know there would many takers among policy makers for this idiotic idea. Anything that is linked to industry, and in this case it is agribusiness industry, is something that the policy makers keenly fall for. I will therefore not be surprised if Ashok Gulati's stupid idea finds favour. Moreover, it does just the opposite of what he is trying to tell us in the beginning. At the end of the article he is seeking appropriate public policy to incentivize the setting up of such plants to create a win win situation. Incentivize means providing land and subsidy support.

Onion prices were at Rs 15/Kg before the recent spike. We all know it wasn't because of any shortfall in production, but because of manipulation and hoarding. After all, this year the production was higher than the total consumption by approximately 27 lakh tonnes. And as Business Standard (Hindi) has estimated, the traders have profiteered by at least Rs 8,000-crore in the past four months. So the challenge is to discipline the trade. 

There is nothing wrong in Jain Irrigation dehydrating onions and exporting it to Japan. That may be what the Japanese prefer, and so Jain Irrigation is meeting their requirement. But the food habits of Indian's is quite different from that of the Japanese. Indians love fresh onions, which as we all know are cooked into various dishes and are also consumed fresh. Moreover, if Jain Irrigation is purchasing 1.5 lakh tonnes of onions, and after dehydrating, exporting it to Japan, I wonder what stops them to supply in the domestic market? If Jain Irrigation can set up a dehydrating plant for export purposes, why cant it do the same for the domestic market? 

But if you have followed the reports/analysis of the Commission for Costs and Prices (CACP) what is very clear is that it has always lobbied for subsidy support for the industry (calling it incentives) while decrying subsidies being given to farmers. I am not in any way surprised at this suggestion. 

Some years back, when Pepsi Foods made a backdoor entry into India, it had come up with the proposal to import tomato varieties suitable for processing. The policy makers were swayed by this idea, technology introduction sells very well in this country. Eventually, Pepsi Foods relied on a tomato variety developed by Indo-American Hybrids, a Bangalore-based firm. No one ever questioned Pepsi as to what happened with their promise of importing improved tomato varieties. Nevertheless, just like the idiotic suggestion of Ashok Gulati, even at that time the company had maintained that by setting up a processing plant to make tomato puree, Pepsi will help provide tomato to the Indian consumers at a cheaper price. 

Well, tomato puree has been in Indian market for quite sometime now. But has it in any way reduced the demand for fresh tomatoes? The answer is: No. So will dehydrated onions, that Ashok Gulati is advocating primarily to seek State subsidies for the industry, reduce the demand for fresh onions? Well, you know the answer. 

Onions can be made available cheaper throughout the year provided the government chops the onion cartels.

By the way, what happened to the claims that organised retail can provide competition to the fruit and vegetable trade that exists in the country? Weren't Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Easy Day, Metro and the likes supposed to eliminate middlemen and thereby provide cheaper vegetables to the consumers? If these retail chains had marketed cheaper onions, I am sure we would have seen long queues before the stored. We didn't see any such rush outside these stores. I remember the CACP has been a strong votary of the organised retail, including FDI in retail. So why did it fail to deliver? Shouldn't CACP be questioning that now, and shouldn't CACP itself be questioned to know whose interests it is working for.

Moreover, how will the processing of onions that provides onions at Rs 20/Kg help the farmers? Who are you misleading, Mr Ashok Gulati?