Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Monday, 27 July 2026, inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for a cluster of dairy and animal husbandry projects in Biharsharif, Nalanda district, at an event organised by the state's Department of Dairy, Fisheries and Animal Resources.

Context

The centrepiece of the event was the foundation-laying for a dahi (curd) and lassi processing plant with a capacity of 20 metric tonnes per day. Alongside it, the Chief Minister inaugurated a COMFED-operated HPCL petrol pump and a Sudha Cafeteria — both aimed at expanding the footprint of Bihar's cooperative dairy brand beyond milk vending. In his address, Choudhary stated that the government has set a target of '1 crore litre pratideen dugdh utpadan' (1 crore litre daily milk production) for the state.

At the same event, deep freezers were distributed among 300 retail vendors, 8 animal carcass transport vehicles were flagged off, and a livestock keeper training programme was formally launched — signalling a multi-pronged push across the dairy value chain.

Policy Backdrop

COMFED, the Bihar State Milk Co-operative Federation, was established in 1983 to consolidate the state's fragmented dairy sector and operates the Sudha brand of milk and milk products. The cooperative model it follows traces its lineage to Operation Flood (1970), India's landmark programme that built the national dairy cooperative network. More recently, the National Dairy Plan Phase-I (2012) channelled resources into states like Bihar to improve per-animal productivity and organised milk procurement.

Nalanda's selection as a processing hub is consistent with the district's growing role in Bihar's agri-economy. The new plant and associated infrastructure are designed to absorb higher raw milk volumes and convert them into value-added products, improving margins for the cooperative and its farmer members.

Stakeholders and Impact

Dairy farmers and pashupalaks (livestock keepers) across Nalanda and neighbouring districts stand to benefit directly from better procurement infrastructure and the newly launched training programme. The distribution of deep freezers to 300 retailers is expected to extend the cold chain at the last mile, reducing spoilage and expanding the retail network for Sudha products.

Chief Minister Choudhary also outlined several forward-looking goals: positioning Sudha as an international brand, developing Nalanda as a major dairy processing hub, creating a separate federation to promote goat rearing, and establishing Pradhan Mantri Pashu Jan Aushadhi Kendras — block-level centres for affordable veterinary medicines — across every block in the state. These announcements indicate the government's intent to deepen both upstream (production) and downstream (processing, branding) capabilities simultaneously.

What's Next

The commissioning timeline for the 20 MT/day Biharsharif plant will be closely watched as a near-term indicator of execution pace. The formation of a dedicated goat-rearing federation and the rollout of block-level Pashu Jan Aushadhi Kendras are longer-horizon commitments that will require budgetary allocation and inter-departmental coordination. Bihar's progress toward the ambitious 1 crore litre per day milk production target will serve as the headline metric for the state's dairy sector transformation in the coming years.