he United States is the largest consumer of guar gum representing 25 per cent of world trade. India exported over 3.25 lakh MT of Guar during 2010-11, out of which over 2.05 lakh MT was to the United States. This information was given in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing, Mr Harish Rawat. He said the production guar is mainly concentrated in the arid region of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and some parts of Punjab.

Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Sharad Pawar, on Tuesday expressed hope that the recently launched National Dairy Plan will help meet the growing demand of milk products in the country. Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of his Ministry in New Delhi, Mr. Pawar said that the demand for milk is projected at 150 million tonnes by the year 2016-17 and the Dairy Plan will help to meet the demand.He said India is world leader in the Milk production with a production of over 121 million tonnes annually. AIR correspondent reports that the National Dairy Plan was launched at Anand in Gujarat with the investment of over 2200 crore rupees. It aims to increase milk production by increasing productivity of milch animals and providing rural milk producers in the country. The scheme is to be implemented in 14 major milk producing states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha and Kerala.