eChapters

DAIRY BUSINESS

Most ambitious young men at some time or another are likely to develop an interest in going into business for themselves. This is prompted not only by the thought that a person owning his own business is more independent but also by the hope of increasing personal income. However, when these same young men look about them and see the general existence of “big business” in practically all lines of endeavour, they often lose courage and decide to remain as workers with some company where they can enjoy a certain degree of security. 
The general condition is an important factor in determining the success of new business enterprises. Similarly, innovations like the creation of new products or the development of new methods of merchandising often gives rise to opportunities for a new business enterprise. The introduction of “Softy” ice cream and other soft-served frozen products made it possible for several hundred small businesses to get established in our country. The advent of single- service paper container was the spark that started several milk-plant operations which later grew into companies of considerable size. Ironically, the paper milk container also spelled the doom for many older independent plants that could not or did not adjust soon enough to this new way of packaging. The chocolate-coated ice-cream bar idea started a number of new enterprises which grew from small companies going to concerns of considerable size. Vending machines made it possible for many small companies to get started selling milk, ice cream, candy and lassi etc. 

Introduction

In India, the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) sector plays a pivotal role in the overall industrial economy of the country. It is estimated that in terms of value, the sector accounts for about 39 per cent of the manufacturing output and around 33 per cent of the total export of the country. Further, in recent years the MSE sector has consistently registered higher growth rate compared to the overall industrial sector. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. As per available statistics, this sector employs an estimated 31 million persons spread over 12.8 million enterprises and the labour intensity in the MSE sector is estimated to be almost 4 times higher than the large enterprises.

Definition for SMEs is often considered to be an obstacle for business studies and market research. Definitions in use today define thresholds in terms of employment, turnover and assets. They also incorporate a reasonable amount of flexibility around year-to-year changes in these measures so that a business qualifying as an SME in one year can have a reasonable expectation of remaining an SME in the next.

    1.    The heifer is bred (naturally or by insemination) before the age of two years.

    2.    The gestation period is nine months and one week.

    3.    After calving, the cow gives milk for 10 months.

    4.    1 – 2 months after calving the cow will again be bred.

    5.    The cow then continues to give milk for about 300 days. This period is known as lactation.

    6.    Milk should preferably be handled in a closed system, to minimise the risk of contamination. It must be cooled to 4 °C as soon as it is produced.

    7.    The content of protein, lactose and ash is somewhat higher in buffalo milk than in cow milk. Buffalo milk contains vitamin A, but lacks b-carotene, which is present in cow’s milk.

    8.    When milk and cream turn to butter, there is a phase inversion from an oil-in-water emulsion to a water-in-oil emulsion.

    9.    In milk, the whey proteins are in colloidal solution and the casein in colloidal suspension.

Introduction

NITI Policy Paper No.1/20017 reveals details of the concept and time frame as how to double the income of the farmers. The policy paper emphasizes in increase in agriculture productivity, improvement in total factor productivity, diversification towards high value crop, and increase in crop intensity, increasing terms of trade for farmers and shifting cultivators to non-farm and subsidiary activities. The well thought and planned program for doubling the income of the farmers reflecting dream or reality. We have farmers of different types like, small. Marginal and large farmers, resource rich and resource poor farmers, farmers of irrigated and non-irrigated zones, tribal and non-tribal farmers , trained and untrained farmers and progressive and non-progressive farmers. The farmers and their economic structure are quite different from place to place even within district. NSSO data on consumption expenditure survey (2011-12) reveal that more than one-fifth of households with self employment in agriculture and their principal occupation were having income less the poverty line.

Milk Production Scenario

Milk is primary source of protein and lactoseDairy farming is considered to be a whole environment of reciprocal relations and dependency reproduction and protection of social values. In worldwise dairy cows count up to 264 millions producing 600 million tones of milk every year. The global average for milk production is approximately 2200 litters/cow. Cattle population of world is 1009.69 millions heads (FAO, 2019) and highest milk producing countries are India, USA, China, Pakistan and Brazil. In case of consumption of milk India tops in the world followed by EU, USA and China. The per capita consumption of milk is highest in the country of Belarus followed by Ukraine and New Zealand. India is ranked 7th in the world in this respect. In India total cattle population is 306.70 millions. The state of Odisha constitutes 1.19% of the total cattle population of India. The level of milk production of India is reported to be 198.2 metric million tones. The per capita availability of milk in India is 427 gms/day (2021) and highest being in Punjab followed by Rajasthan. In case of Odisha the per capita milk availability is 143 gms and in milk production the district Cuttack top the list followed by Ganjam and Jagatsinghpur.

This chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of data gathered through a structured questionnaire to conduct the current study. Data analysis and interpretation of data is the most significant part of the research report. It contains a detailed analysis of major results about the information for arriving at a valid conclusion. It helps to interpret the results of the study in a proper perspective. Based on the objectives and hypotheses formulated, the data was collected through a questionnaire. Likert’s scale was used to assess the opinions of the respondents. 

Data refers to any collection of facts, observations, measurements, or values that are typically numerical, but can also be qualitative. It's raw material that can be processed and organized to provide context, relevance, and meaning. In its raw form, data may not carry any specific meaning and might appear as a series of numbers, text, symbols, or images.

Types of Data

• Quantitative Data: Numerical data that can be measured and expressed with numbers (e.g., height, weight, temperature).

Introduction

Data Mining is a complex subject that describes a type of database application used to search large amounts of data for patterns using specific tools. Advanced statistical methods and tools such as classification, association rule mining and cluster analysis search large volumes of data for previously unknown relationships within the data. Data Mining can be used to decipher trends in a wide variety of fields such as computer science, the marketing and advertising of goods, services or products, artificial intelligence research, biological sciences and high-level government intelligence. Data mining is a logical process that is used to search through large amounts of information in order to find important data.

Introduction

The value of data privacy in the linked world of today cannot be emphasised. As digital technologies proliferate and personal data is collected, stored, and analysed on a large scale, people and organisations are more susceptible to data exploitation and privacy violations. In the modern era, privacy of data are vital because of following reasons:

1. Safety Regarding Personal Information: Fundamental People’s freedom to manage their personal data protected by data privacy. In a time when everyone has a digital footprint, maintaining one’s liberty and dignity requires protecting private information such as financial records, health records, and internet activity

2. Trust Management is Critical for Organisations and Companies: Maintaining data privacy improves reputation and brand loyalty by building trust with stakeholders, clients, and consumers. On the other hand, privacy violations and data breaches can seriously harm an organization’s reputation by undermining people’s confidence in its ability to protect sensitive data.

3. Compliance with Laws and Regulations: Strict data privacy laws have been passed by governments all over the world to uphold people’s rights and make businesses responsible for handling personal information. Adherence to regulatory mandates similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the US not only necessary from a legal standpoint but also morally required for moral business practices.

Introduction

Individual bits or “bytes” of “raw” biological data (e.g. the number of individual plants of a given species at a given location) do not by themselves inform the human mind. However, drawing various data together within an appropriate context yields information that may be useful (e.g. the distribution and abundance of the plant species at various points in space and time). In turn, this information helps foster the quality of knowing (e.g. whether the plant species is increasing or decreasing in distribution and abundance over space and time). Knowledge and experience blend to become wisdom—the power of applying these attributes critically or practically to make decisions. This quotation is from the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, a non-profit organization established in 1999.Thus, we are led to think about Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom as we explore the capabilities and limitations of IT systems.

Evolution of Computer technology and advent of database concept have provided enormous opportunities to the  scientist, researchers and managers of diverse field  to create, manipulate integrate, link and analyse their data in order to generate information and knowledge. The research projects involving exploration, survey and collection of data, generally create database to maintain and analyze the data.  Almost in every sphere of life and industry this database concept/technology is used in one form or other.  Scientists and researchers of life sciences realized the importance of the database and used this technology to develop databases of different types/groups of living organisms. The database technology has eased the difficulty in designing, developing and maintaining the complex information systems.

Databases

A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. Databases can be classified according to types of content: bibliographic, full-text, numeric and images and by their application area, for example: accounting, music compositions, movies, banking, manufacturing, or insurance. The term database may be narrowed to specify particular aspects of organized collection of data and may refer to the logical database, to the physical database as data content in computer data storage or to many other database sub-definitions.

Introduction

Work-dwelling or workplace well-being describes all aspects of the working lifespan of workers from the point of view of quality, safety and physical environment. It pronounces the workers’ feelings about their work, their working environment, the climate at work and work organization. According to WHO (2010), a healthy workplace environment not only merely finds the absence of illness but also a state of comprehensive physical, mental and social comfort. Work and health hence have a reciprocal relationship that concerns occupational health wellbeing and confers decent work environments i.e. (i) payment of reasonable income; (ii) safety-security in employment and working environment; (iii) guarantee of equal opportunities and treatment for all; (iv) enclosure of social protection for the workers and their families; (v) offering prospects for personal development and inspiring social integration and (vi) allowance of workers to express their apprehensions and to organize (ILO, 1999). In the entrepreneurial sphere, globalization along with fast industrial progress is supposed to be accountable for occupational health hazards and related workplace ill-being, work insecurity, the lack of protection for workers’ health and well-being in the form of work-related accidents, illness and stress, lack of workers’ compensation and paid sick leave, lack of maternity protection, excessive hours of work, etc.(https://www.ilo.org/). This was evidenced in the recent report of ILO (2023) where it was found that 2.3 million people around the world surrender to work-related accidents or diseases every year which links to over 6000 deaths every solitary day (www.ilo.org). Subsequently, there are about 340 million occupational accidents where 160 million are fatalities of work-related illnesses annually in the World.

Introduction

Women make essential contributions to the agricultural and rural economies in all developing countries. Their roles vary considerably between and within regions and are changing rapidly in many parts of the world, where economic and social forces are transforming the agricultural sector. Agriculture needs manpower, if the manpower split into gender wise, amazing fact is that the women contribution is greater or equal to men (Chauhan, 2011).That is reason that right from the day the country become independent, it has been trying hard for rural development.

According to the Penguin Atlas of Women in the World, women make up 40 per cent of the agricultural labour force in most parts of the world, while in developing countries they make up 67 per cent of the agricultural workforce (Singh, 2008). Therefore, strengthening and expanding women’s roles and opportunities in agriculture promotes sustainable economic development. Gender inequalities are a measurable and significant limit on agricultural productivity and efficiency, undermining rural economic development. India has paved the way to development by increasing its trade and growth in Agriculture sector. To review the agriculture scenario of our country, it depicted that there is need to pay sincere attention towards the human resource development (men and women together) because modernizing agriculture needs skill and efficient work forced. Farm business has become a family enterprise in India, where both men and women take part evenly. It is well known fact that the success of rural development process largely depends on the participation of people at large, irrespective of sex. The problems of involving women’s participation in the development process are now catching the attention of planners and policy maker because of increasing imbalances generated out of development process. Now days, rural women play a vital role in domestic and socio-economic life of the society and therefore, national development is not possible without developing this important and substantial section of our society (Okafor, 2008).

Ice cream defects can result from formulation imbalance, poor ingredient quality, processing deviations, inadequate freezing or hardening, packaging problems, storage conditions, and cold-chain failures. This chapter provides a systematic framework for understanding, classifying, diagnosing, and correcting defects affecting flavour, body, texture, melting, colour, appearance, packaging, and storage stability. It emphasizes that a visible defect in the finished product may originate much earlier in the production or distribution chain. Examples include iciness caused by slow freezing or temperature abuse, weak body associated with formulation or overrun, and flavour problems originating from raw materials or microbial activity. Defect analysis therefore becomes an important tool for troubleshooting, quality improvement, training, and preventive action.

Agricultural finance generally means studying, examining and analyzing the financial aspects pertaining to farm business, which is the core sector of India. The financial aspects include money matters relating to production of agricultural products and their disposal.

INTRODUCTION

Drying or dehydration is defined as the removal of moisture from its initial level to a level which renders food materials safe for subsequent storage. It is a simultaneous heat and mass transfer operation in which heat is supplied externally to evaporate moisture and air is forced through the bed to carry away the moisture. Drying is the oldest technique to preserve food materials. Advantages of drying include reduction in water activity, enhancement of shelf life, maintenance of flavor and nutritive value, and reduction in packaging and transportation costs. When the water activity of the dried product is reduced to below 0.6, most microorganisms do not grow and the rates of other deteriorative reactions are substantially reduced.

Materials Required

Dehydrator, balance, thermometer, sulphur dioxide, blanching pan, fruits / vegetables, polythene or aluminium bags.

Procedure

    1.    Select sound fruits or vegetables 
    2.    Record their initial weight and wash them properly in plain water to remove any dirt or extraneous matter. 
    3.    Peel with stainless steel knife (as the case may be) and cut into thin uniform pieces or slices of  0.2-0.5 mm thickness
    4.    Blanch the slices in boiling water for 1-2 min. to inactivate the enzymes followed by immediate cooling.
    5.    Treat the slices with sulphur (sulphuring or sulphiting) in order to prevent darkening of the product during drying. 
    6.    Dry the slices in a mechanical air dehydrator at about 55 + 5oC temperature.
    7.    Record the weight of the product after every 2 hr till it becomes (almost) constant i.e. when there no more (significant) loss of moisture from the product.
    8.    Pack the product in ploythene or aluminium laminated pouches and seal them air tight. 
    9.    If it is to be converted into powder, the dried product can be ground in a grinder before packing.
    10.    Label the packages and store them in a cool dry place.
    11.    Plot the drying rate curve of the product on a graph paper and analyse it.
    12.    Record the initial and final moisture content of the product (as discussed in Exercise No. 19). 

Drying and dehydration are interrelated terms. Drying generally refers to the method of removal of moisture from the food under natural conditions such as sunlight and wind for example open sun drying, shade drying etc. Whereas, dehydration refers to a process of removal of moisture by application of artificial heat under controlled conditions of temperature and airflow. In this case single layer of fruit and vegetables, either whole or sliced after primary pretreatments is spread on trays which are placed inside the dehydrator or in the open sun for drying. In the dehydrator, the initial temperature is generally kept at 43oC which is then gradually increased to 66-71oC for fruits and 60- 66oC for vegetables. Dried grapes (raisins and monucca), apricots, dates, apple rings/cubes, Morchella (Guchhi), bael, aonla, fig, green peas, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, garlic etc are commercial products prepared by using drying.
Procedure for drying: Drying generally involves three stages: pre-drying treatments or pre-treatments, drying of commodity and post-drying operations such as handling, packaging and storage. The flow sheet for drying of fruit and vegetables is shown in Figure 1 and details of pretreatments for drying fruits and vegetables are shown in Table 1&2 respectively.

Drying is the oldest known method of preserving food. Drying or dehydration is removal of majority of water contained in fruit or vegetable. Although preservation is the primary reason for dehydration, it also lowers cost of packaging, storing and transportation by reducing both weight and volume of final product. In addition, dried foods add variety to our diets. In the process of drying, sufficient moisture is removed to protect product  from  spoilage. Processing should be done in such a way that food value, natural flavour and characteristic cooking quality of fresh material are retained after drying.

Introduction

Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and meteorological conditions in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is caused by unsustainable human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and rampant industrialization which released massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun and cause the planet to warm, resulting in various impacts on the environment and human society. Climate change is likely to disrupt the monsoon patterns and lead to more extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. This will have a significant impact on crop yields and food security in India, which is already facing a growing population and increasing demand for food. Additionally, rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may also lead to the spread of new pests and diseases, further exacerbating the challenges faced by Indian farmers.

Additionally, climate change impacts are disproportionately affecting the livelihoods of smallholder and resource-poor farmers, who are more vulnerable to weather-related risks and have fewer resources to adapt. The Indian government and private sector are implementing various measures to help farmers adapt to changing conditions, but more needs to be done to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector. The agricultural sector in India is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as it employs a large portion of the population and is a major contributor to the country’s economy. The Indian government and various organizations are working to develop strategies and technologies to adapt to the changing climate and mitigate the effects on the agricultural sector. Time to time the Indian government have implemented various policies and programs to improve the productivity and profitability of the agricultural sector, including the transfer of technology and extension services.