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linking themwith credit and all production
and marketing linkages. Sahayog, a micro-
finance company and private enterprise
group, set up a clean-milk-producing-dairy-
producer company inMadhya Pradesh with
considerable benefit to farmers. SRIJAN,
a Rajasthan-based NGO has worked hard
to bring together very poor dairy farm-
ing women to set up a fledgling producer
company that caters to all the needs of dairy
farming. Each entity in its own way has
faced challenges and dealt with them, in the
process earning the support and the respect
of the communities where they worked at.
Dairy-based livelihoods are a critical part
of rural households, especially the poor and
the landless. There has been tremendous
progress made by the dairy sector in terms
of improved productivity, better quality,
organised marketing and aggregation of
milk from smallholders to an extent not
witnessed in any other rural produce. There
are a number of good models and ongoing
projects to improve the ground conditions
further in favour of smallholders. Challenges
however remain as technical, commercial
and financial problems continue to dog the
sector. In a globally linked market for milk
and derivatives, farmers suffer the most in
case of falling milk prices; processors and
marketers gain in case of an increase in
prices. Environmental issues and equitable
use of natural resources require to be closely
looked at in expanding the dairy sector. At
a small farmer’s level, it is not clear if dairy-
ing is a remunerative enterprise. When all
linkages are available and a fair marketing
organisation provides the outlet for milk,
there is likelihood that farmers will make
profit. Mostly, the cooperative milk chain is
able to provide a realistic price to farmers.
Others continue in dairying despite its
not being profitable as it is an easy way of
converting their labour into cash (and that
too at regular intervals) instead of looking
for wage employment. The entry of socially
oriented institutions in order to organise
the local dairy farmers into producer col-
lectives with comprehensive end-to-end
solutions is a laudable initiative. Such
interventions should be supported by an
appropriate policy framework and easy part-
nerships with government-driven extension
services. Despite its obvious employment
potential for vulnerable people, public
funding for this sector seems to be much
lower than warranted. Public investments in
animal health care and extension services go
a long way to reduce risks of the vulnerable
smallholders in dairy sector.
VI. Case studies
The following four case studies are of four
different institutions taking unique initia-
tives to address the needs of dairy farmers.
Case study 4.1: BAIF model of dairy
development
BAIF—which was established in 1967
to generate gainful self-employment for
rural poor—found that the best option for
resource-poor farmers was strengthening the
existingmixed crop–livestock farming system.
Cattle, being widely accepted by all sections
of community and because of an increasing
demand formilk in India,motivated the BAIF
to promote cattle development as an impor-
tant tool for poverty alleviation.
Cross-breeding to improve productivity
The concept of cross-breeding of cattle has
been tested and upscaled by BAIF nation-
wide. Initially, Gir and other non-descript
cows were used to produce cross- bred cows
with policy support from the Government
of India. Technical and funding support
from donors such as Danida, Scottish and
British Milk marketing boards enabled the
BAIF to set up the required research facili-
ties such as the bull mother farm, semen
freezing units etc.
The initial strategies used by BAIF
included doorstep delivery of insemination
services, involvement of farmer organ-
isations, use of semen of selected bulls,
ensuring the quality of semen and imple-
mentation of activities through trained AI
technicians in order to win the confidence
