NABARD - Soil Report 2015 - page 100

Dairy-based Livelihoods
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Aided Cooperative Society (IMACS), a
federation of SHGs. The company has been
functional since past 5 years and the peak
level procurement of milk was 12,000 litres
per day. It showcased that dairying can be
profitable for both the producers and the
company in an area which had deficit in
milk. The company has been selling milk
to bulk buyers. Seeing the pressures on
margins, the company started sellingmilk in
pouches. However, last year the Telangana
government invited other state dairies such
as Amul, Nandini and so on to sell milk in
the twin cities. This led to some turbulence
in the dairy sector. The bulk buyers were not
able to lift milk. Due to competition from
established players, the producer company
saw its procurement and also market share
inmilk business going down. The producers
are now bracing to tackle this competition.
Similar situation was also experienced by
other milk producer companies in AP,
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Some of
them sold off the bulk milk coolers already
established to repay loans.
3. SHGs and dairying initiatives
Women SHGs have gained prominence
withmajor livelihood initiatives for poverty
reduction in the country, utilising this insti-
tutional form tomobilise women and enable
them to access financial and livelihood
services. While women have been borrowing
for the purchase of milch animals, integrated
support systems for dairy management have
been few.
Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty
(SERP) in AP, which has the largest net-
work of SHGs and federations (VOs and
mandala samkhyas
) in the country, took
up a dairy initiative. Andhra Pradesh Dairy
Development Cooperative Federation
(APDDCF) had bulk milk coolers and other
infrastructure which were not well utilised
due to poor mobilisation of dairy farm-
ers, low volumes of milk supply and high
overhead costs. Mandala Samkhyas where
potential for dairy exists are entrusted
with the milk procurement from VOs
and chilling. Thereafter they transport
the milk to milk union’s processing plant.
Dairy producer groups were formed out
of interested SHG members. They had to
manage the animals in a common shed for
which the government provided subsidies
for shed andmachinery such as chaff cutters.
Other services such AI, feed, veterinary sup-
port were organised through institutional
linkages. The milk procured has not seen
dramatic changes and the utilisation of
the infrastructure has also not improved
much. However, 70 per cent of the dairy
farmers are benefitting from the purchase
of animals, inputs and marketing services
that they are availing locally. As per SERP,
under the Rural Inclusive Growth Project
of World Bank, dairy value chain will be
focused with comprehensive and integrated
services reaching the dairy farmers.
There are several NGOs that work with
dairy farmers, especially in extension ser-
vices through bare-foot technicians. There
are also a few NGOs that are promoting
dairy value chain, trying to address the
needs of dairy farmers comprehensively.
SRIJANhas beenworking with dairy farmers
in Rajasthan and MP (see case study 4.3).
DHAN foundation has set up a milk pro-
cessing plant and carries out value addition
in Tamil Nadu, though profitability issues
arise now and then. Hand in Hand—an
NGO for promoting the SHGs of women
with the goal of job creation—found that
in spite of taking large numbers of loans,
asset creation was limited. While women
reared dairy animals in a traditional way, the
income was limited due to lack of integrated
and comprehensive support. Hence Hand in
Hand initiated dairy related activities.
Four case studies at the end of the chapter
look at how NGOs and private sector enti-
ties created an impact through dairy-based
interventions in a comprehensive manner
throughout the dairy value chain. BAIF,
a large NGO of international repute, led
the breed improvement programme in the
country successfully. Hand in Hand set up
a producer company for dairy farmers after
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