NEW DELHI: BJP’s focus on beef ban has, of late, raised a debate on how to manage cows after their productive phase. The government will try to find a solution through a brainstorming session on the issue during a national conference on ‘ gaushalas ’ (cowsheds) on Monday.Idea of the day-long conference is to listen to stakeholders, including farmers and representatives of states where beef has been banned for long, and explore the possibility of opening as many cowsheds (Gaushalas) as possible in those states to manage the abandoned cows.“After all, even the non-milk producing cows can be useful if we can use ‘gobar’ (cow dung) in much more scientific way. Cow dung can be a rich source of non-polluting bio-energy. It can also be used to increase and preserve soil fertility”, said an official.He said, “We have many success stories where the cowsheds have even created employment opportunities in rural areas. All these will be shared with the stakeholders during the Conference which may, hopefully, come out with an effective solution to manage cows after end of their productive phase”.The Conference, to be organised jointly by the environment and agriculture ministries, will also discuss ways and means to increase milk production and productivity.Being the world's largest producer and consumer, India produced 146.31 million tones (MT) of milk during 2014-15 as against 137.70 MT in 2013-14. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has, however, projected that the country's demand for milk is expected to be around 155 MT in 2016-17 and 200 MT in 2021-22.Department of animal husbandry of the agriculture ministry will share the details of what it has been doing through ‘ Rashtriya Gokul Mission ’ to increase milk production in the country through incentives to dairy-farmers.Impact of global warming on India's milk production is one such area which has, of late, caught attention of policy-makers and experts. It has been observed that the temperature rise over the years have affected productivity of cross-bred cows. Therefore, it has been felt that India would have to focus on indigenous bovines that are "robust and resilient" and also better suited to the "climate and environment of their respective breeding tracts".“Though 79 per cent of the 30 crore bovines in India are indigenous represented by 37 well recognized 'desi' breeds of cattle, there is still a need to increase the share of indigenous variety further”, said an official.The foreign breeds (cross-bred) of cows had helped in increasing milk production substantially over the years with the peak reaching at 146.31 MT during 2014-15. But the cost of keeping those breeds in good (high-yield) health in increasing temperature scenario has made it an expensive proposition for average farmers.