Dairy Technology

In India’s agriculture based economy, dairy technology has a significant role to play. Currently, India is the second largest producer of milk, after the US. Rapid growth in this sector has created an ever increasing demand for people trained in dairy technology.
Professionals associated with dairy technology have to work with milk production, processing, packaging, storage, transport, and Distribution, etc.

Eligibility
Students can take admission in various courses associated with dairy technology after passing 12th standard with science subjects.  Thereafter, they can choose from various graduate and postgraduate courses available- specialization in Dairy Micro Biology, Dairy Chemistry, Dairy Technology, Dairy Engineering, Animal Genetics and Breeding, Biochemistry, Dairy Economics, Animal biotechnology and other related areas. Training programs are also available in some institutes.

Courses
The well established National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, MC College of Dairy Science, Anand, and some other universities offer training programs. Dairy Science Institute, Mumbai, offers a Bachelor of Science degree in dairy technology as well as a two-year diploma course in dairy technology/husbandry. In India, 17 Institutes offer master's degree in dairy science and dairy technology and six universities offer a PhD degree. The dairy science colleges in Karnal and Anand offer a degree in quality control, and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur offers B.Tech. honours in agriculture and food engineering, M.Tech. in dairy and food engineering and PhD in dairy engineering and dairy technology. Students graduating with subjects such as, dairy technology/ veterinary sciences/ agriculture etc, can seek admission in the postgraduate programme in agribusiness offered by the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmadabad and Lucknow.

Scope
Presently, more than 400 dairy plants are located all over India producing various types of dairy products. . Trained professionals are needed to run these plants.  Growth in dairy processing industry has given birth to the dairy equipment industry. Today, more than 170 dairy equipment companies are successfully doing business in India. Professionals with 8 to 10 years of experience can also work as independent consultants.  Teaching and research also offer good possibilities.  With experience it is even possible to establish a dairy business. 

Salary
Initially, the salary of a dairy technologist is around 8 to 12 thousand rupees per month. However, with 2 to 3 years of experience, a considerable hike in salary can be expected.

Institutes
 1. University of Agriculture Science, Karnataka
 2. College of Dairy Technology, Nagpur
 3. Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur
 4. Kerala Agriculture University
 5. Rajasthan Agriculture University
 6. Allahabad Agriculture Institute
 7. National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal
 8. Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, Tirupati
 9. Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad
 10. Dairy Science Institute, Mumbai
 11. West Bengal of animal and Fishery Sciences