Sikkim Dairy Gets Microbiology Lab and Churpi Traceability

Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, took part in a programme of the Sikkim Milk Union at Gangtok on 3 November 2026. He inaugurated the Union's Microbiology Laboratory, set up under the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), which is to strengthen microbiological testing and quality assessment and so improve food safety in the dairy trade. A second microbiology laboratory, at Karfectar, was inaugurated virtually at the same event.

Churpi traceability and Fodder Plus

The Minister launched the Churpi Traceability initiative, meant to trace the traditional hard cheese of the hills and to build its identity and market reach. He also launched Fodder Plus products developed by Farmer Producer Organisations, which the ministry links to fodder availability, farmer collectives and additional sources of income in the livestock sector. Registration certificates were handed to five newly formed Dairy Cooperative Societies.

How Sikkim's dairy sector has grown

Addressing the gathering, the Minister congratulated the State government and other stakeholders on this progress. He asked the National Dairy Development Board to put in more staff and effort so that Sikkim becomes self-reliant in producing and procuring milk, and said dairy cooperatives are the means of assuring quality, checking adulteration and getting farmers a fair price. He cited Varanasi, where the Board's work lifted milk collection from 14,000 litres a day in 2022 to about 2.5 lakh litres a day, and the price paid to farmers from Rs 28 to 30 up to Rs 42 a litre, with extra earnings from cow dung used in biogas plants under the GOBARdhan initiative.

Siri cattle and the Mangan plant

Recalling a visit to Mangan, where local cattle yield roughly three litres of milk a day, the Minister announced that the Central Government would sanction funds for a Centre of Excellence for the conservation and development of the indigenous Siri cattle breed. The centre is to promote advanced breeding technologies, including IVF, to raise the genetic potential and milk yield of the breed, and the State has been asked to send a formal proposal. He added that the National Dairy Development Board would finance and carry out a full modernisation of the dairy processing plant in Mangan district, on the model already used in Mizoram, and said the State's economic progress was part of the vision of an Aatmanirbhar North East.