101 Present address: 1 Scientist (rkrajivndri@gmail.com), ICAR- Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone- VI, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. 2 Head & Principal Scientist (ponnusamyk @hotmail.com), 5 Scientist (mail.asif.m@gmail.com), Division of Dairy Extension; 3 Head & Principal Scientist (ak_chakravarty @yahoo.co.in), Division of Animal Genetics and Breeding. 4 Scientist (r.sendhil@gmail.com), ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal, Haryana. Indian dairy sector has achieved more than 9-fold increase in milk production, from 17 million tonnes in 1950– 51 to 155.5 million tonnes during 2015–16 (DAHDF 2017). Although per-capita availability (337 g/day) is currently more than the requirement of 280 g/day, the projected demand for milk is high, i.e. 200 to 210 million tonnes of milk by 2021–22. The demand will increase attributing to the increasing per capita income, changing dietary pattern, rapid urbanization and burgeoning population (Shah and Dave 2010). Regional disparities remain a cause of concern in Indian livestock sector (Kale et al. 2016). Large share of milk in India is being produced by small holders. Unless milk production increases at the pace required, there is a possibility of a widening gap in supply of milk, which could lead to a dependence on imports. Indian dairy sector is witnessing structural transformation as many farmers are diverting towards off-farm livelihood sources. There is a drop in number of farmers in the country by a staggering 9 million during 2001 and 2011 (Census 2011), hence the domestic production could be increased in terms of quantity and quality with adoption of Good Dairy Farming Practices (FAO 2011). Therefore, it is apt to study the current status and future aspiration of dairy farmers in India for strategic planning of milk production to meet future demand. MATERIALS AND METHODS To study the present status and future aspiration and planning of the dairy farmers in India, 16 states were classified into three categories namely, highly, moderately and least dairy progressive states based on ‘Dairy Progressiveness Index’ (Kale et al. 2016). A short time frame of next five years from 2016 to 2020 was fixed for study keeping in view optimum period for farm planning of farmers. Study was conducted in three states namely Haryana, Maharashtra and Odisha from highly, moderately and least dairy progressive states by stratified random sampling, respectively. From Haryana, Hissar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal; from Maharashtra, Pune, Wardha and Raigad; from Odisha, Puri, Khurda and Nayagarh were selected based on average milk yield of bovine animals, i.e. high, medium and low milk yield, respectively. From each district, one block and two villages from each block were selected, Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 88 (4): 493–498, April 2018/Article Future aspirations and planning of dairy farmers in India: Horizon 2020 RAJIV BALIRAM KALE 1 , K PONNUSAMY 2 , A K CHAKRAVARTY 3 , R SENDHIL 4 and ASIF MOHAMMAD 5 ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana 132 001 India Received: 17 February 2017; Accepted: 5 December 2017 ABSTRACT Indian milk production has shown remarkable performance during last four decades. Although the demand for milk is increasing at faster pace in consonance with increasing per capita income, changing dietary pattern, rapid urbanization and burgeoning population, some milk producers do not find milk production as sufficiently remunerative. Keeping these facts in view, a study was conducted to document the present status and future aspirations of dairy farmers in India by 2020. Haryana, Maharashtra and Odisha states were purposively selected from highly, moderately and least dairy progressive states by stratified random sampling, respectively. The total sample size was 900 containing 300 dairy farmers from each state. Study revealed that there is a likelihood of increase in average herd size in all the three states, although number of dairy farmers are likely to decrease. In Haryana, buffalo based system will remain dominating, large scale crossbred and pure indigenous farms will arise. In Maharashtra, farmers showed more inclination towards the crossbred cattle as 44.52% wanted to increase crossbred and 30.14% wanted to carry forward the same. Indigenous cattle will be reared only in extensive system of management. Buffalo based farms will come up in the future. In Odisha, though farmers are interested in crossbred, the dairy farming is highly constrained by lack of skill, input availability especially fodder. Managerial practices in Haryana showed more inclination towards input intensive, in Maharashtra farmers are moving towards intensive system and adoption of improved housing, feeding, finance are likely to appear in Maharashtra. To achieve the future demand, efforts are required to improve the skills of farmers in low progressive states, proper breeding strategies for increasing milk potential of animals, use of local available resources and competitiveness among the farmers. Key words: Dairy farmers, Future aspirations, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha