Are you aware that a new era of White Revolution 2.0 is coming up? The latest news of Amit Shah launching ‘Margdiksha’ brings a fresh wave of enthusiasm among dairy farmers.
The best part!
Due to dairy cooperatives, milk production in India reached from 21.2 million metric tons to 88.1 million metric tons in 45 years.
So, what is the purpose of dairy cooperatives?
The purpose is to make the milk producer cooperative model bring dominance.
Several other objectives are:
- Benefit communities of suppliers and farmers
- Impact on milk yield, food security, and margin of dairy production
- Poverty alleviation among Indian dairy farmers
- Augmenting the rural milk production
- Offer veterinary health care, feed, and artificial insemination services
- Provide member education in the dairy sector
Historical significance of dairy cooperatives
Although the First Five Year Plan (1951-1956) established the ‘Key Village Scheme’, milk production remained stagnant. Likewise in 1951-1970, milk production rose barely by 1% annually.
However, Operation Flood under the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), led a vast journey of cooperative networks. Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, considered major dairy states, played a huge role in the White Revolution. Similarly, Phase III of the program strengthened milk supply infrastructure.
From 2003, the private sector firms in the dairy industry evolved to a cooperative model. NDDB ensures the better return to all the dairy cooperatives and milk producers. This led to a liberalized structure of cooperative models involving farmers, dairy partners, and production units.
Currently, Margdiksha to be launched, will target 200,000 agricultural cooperatives intending to produce 100 million kg milk/day by 2028.
To learn about India’s dairy production at rural level, read https://dollons.com/blog/how-milk-production-is-helping-in-improving-rural-india/
Strucure of dairy cooperatives
In India, the dairy chains form a dynamic network of 3-tier cooperatives. Furthermore, parties to this cooperative model are landless, marginal, smallholders, and milk-producer families in India.
Let’s learn the hierarchical structure of dairy cooperatives:
Base level:
- Dairy farmers (180 lakhs)
- Village milk societies (2.30 lakhs)
Tactical level:
- Direct milk unions (240)
- State Apex Cooperatives (28)
Strategic level:
- National dairy federation
The journey to greater growth …
In 1946, Amul Cooperative developed to promote de-centralization in milk production. This model focused on eliminating the middlemen. Along with it, dairy cooperative societies (DPS) made district-level unions. It draws a vertical channel from small milk producers to state-level federations. Therefore, milk producers buy shares and sell the milk to only cooperative society members.
Final takeaway
Dairy cooperatives in India play a dominant role in the dairy sector. It’s predicted to make a bigger impact with the launch of White Revolution 2.0.
Dollons, specializing in processing 100% fresh liquid milk across West Bengal aims to increase its production capacity.
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