Dairy Cooperatives and Rural Development in India

Dairy Cooperatives and Rural Development in India Abstract ... [ view full abstract ]

Dairy Cooperatives and Rural Development in India
Abstract Dr.XLX.Wilson*
Dairying is an important sub-sector of the agricultural sector of India’s economy. Among crop and livestock products, milk is the number one farm commodity in terms of its contribution to the gross value of output from agriculture in the national economy. India has more cooperatives and more cooperative members than any other country in the world. The milk cooperatives try to realize the best possible price from the market for their members. The dairy farmers who are the supplier of the milk are also the owners of the cooperative societies. About 15.46 million farmers have been brought under the ambit of 1, 62,600 village level dairy corporative societies up to March, 2014. The cooperative milk unions have procured an average of 34.2 million kgs of milk per day during the year 2013-14 as compared to 33.5 million kgs in the previous year recording a growth of 2.1%. The sale of liquid milk by cooperative sector has reached 29.4 million litres per day during the year 2013-14 registering a growth of 5.8% over the previous year. Employment opportunities are becoming increasingly scarce and the capital and knowledge intensity of the jobs is steadily on the rise. Under such circumstances as these, dairying has continued to grow and offer opportunities to many marginalised people, especially in rural areas. The role of member- owned businesses in sustainable development was recently acknowledged at the 2012 ‘R io+20’ UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD). Co- operatives appeared three times in the Rio+20 document, where they were noted for their role in bringing social inclusion, reducing poverty and supporting sustainable agricultural practices. People in all walks of life felt cooperatives are tool for their development. This paper identifies how Indian dairying has steadily emerged to be the harbinger of equitable justice, employment and a relatively stable source of income generation for the vulnerable sections of the rural community with little or no land base.
Dr.XLX.Wilson( wilsonxavier7@gmail.com), is with the Postgraduate and Research Department of Cooperation, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Bharathiar University) Coimbatore, India and Visiting Scholar, University of Helsinki, Finland.