Climate Change Impact on India’s Dairy Sector:
A study published in Scientific Reports has found that climate change-induced heat stress is significantly reducing milk production in the trans-Gangetic plains of northwestern India, particularly in Haryana, one of India’s major milk-producing regions.Temperatures exceeding 38°C combined with relative humidity above 70% (typical during the July-August monsoon overlap) trigger catastrophic drops in milk yield.Winter temperature fluctuations showed negligible impact, establishing heat stress as the primary threat. PET (a measure of atmospheric moisture demand) emerged as a critical indicator.A single unit increase in PET slashes milk yield by roughly 1.4 liters per buffalo per day. Heat-related stressors are already causing an annual national loss of 3.2 million tonnes of milk, equating to roughly Rs 2,661 crore.Without aggressive adaptation, this loss is projected to hit 15 million tonnes by the 2050s. Corroborating this data, The Lancet has projected that India’s total milk production could plummet by up to 25% by 2085 due to unmitigated thermal stress.
