as a livelihood option ten years back. He managed to buy a cross-breed cow, which yielded 14 - 15 liters of milk a day. He used to sell this milk at local market at a profitable rate. The modest income from his petty milk business encouraged him to steadily increase the number of such cross-breed cattle in a bid to improve the economic condition of the family. Khanindra, along with his brother Hamen (32) thus became the owners of 10 such cross-breed cows at their home.Over 10 years, the milk-business has thoroughly changed their way of life. From a share-cropper who occasionally worked as a daily wage earner for a living, the Kakatis’ family has now shifted to their  newly constructed tin-roofed concrete house from their hut, purchased a vehicle for commercial use, apart from taking on the responsibilities of arranging the marriages of their three sisters.

Like them, the story of another set of brothers - Bimal Sharma (43) and Bijoy Sharma (40) is also equally encouraging. Belonging to a traditional milk farmer family who were engaged in the milk business with their indigenous cows, the brothers decided to shape their business into a more organised form and shifted to cross-breed cattle. Their hard work has rewarded them and they have been able to increase the number of their cross-breed cattle to 35, with 15 milk-giving cows. The brothers now get over 200 liters of milk each day, which they can sell for at least Rs 30/ per litre in the market.

The stories of these milk-farmers are, actually part of numerous such success stories of over 2,500 families, which are engaged in the milk business covering an area of nearly 10 kilometers in greater Bajali area, with their cross-breed cattle. For these families covering eight Gram Panchayats, the milk business has become a viable livelihood option.

“The origin of the story of this white revolution in this unconventional milk-producing area, thorough commercial milk business could be traced back to 2004 and the formation of one Co-operative Society with 17 milk-farmers and 13 liters of milk. The business instantly took an organised form with more youth from nearby villages coming forward to take up the business as a feasible livelihood option. Over the last ten years, the business has flourished in such a way that as of now 17 such Co-operative Societies have been formed covering 2,500 families,” says Hitesh Pathak, who has been working as a Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Baghmara and Extension Officer at Bojali Block Veterinary Dispensary. He has also been serving as advisor to the Milk Co-operative Societies.

Today, the greater Bajali area is home to the booming center of milk-production in Assam with over 12,000 - 13,000 liters of milk production per day. 6,000 liters on average of this production is procured by West Assam Milk Producers Co-operative Limited (WAMUL) run by the National Diary Development Board (NDDB) for its ‘Purabi’ milk brand plant in Guwahati. These milk farmers also cater to the needs of customers of the nearby districts of Barpeta and Nalbari apart from meeting the local milk demands in Pathsala. Additionally, milk products mainly in the form of paneer, are regularly sent to the neighbouring country of Bhutan.

Each of these 17 Milk Co-operative Societies have registered members varying from 50 to over hundreds. Production also varies between 150 liters and 6000 liters per day, depending on the strength of the society. The Kamdhenu Dugdha Utpadak Samabay Sameeti of Nityananda, the largest Co-operative Society, has a total of 850 milk farmers registered who are producing over 5,500 - 6000 liters of milk each day. The milk-farmers sell 2,000 liters locally at Rs 35 per liter, and the rest is sent to Guwahati.

The society also has a cattle feed mill at Nityananda, where the farmers produce 10 quintals of feed per day to feed their cattle, using locally available materials including rice flour, wheat flour,  mustard oil cake, and some wild varieties of pulses which are rich in nutritional value.

Most of these families are small milk farmers having 5 - 10 cows on an average, which translates into a large number of rural employment. Another positive aspect is that a large number of educated youth have started opting for milk-farming as their main livelihood option. These youth prefer to rear cross-bred cattle as milk production of these cattle is manifold in comparison to indigenous cattle, which varies between 14 - 16 liters per day.

“A family with 7 milk giving cross-breed cattle can easily earn up to Rs 30,000 per month, excluding related costs. This is a modest income. Interested youth also go for related ventures like setting up vermi - compost units, vegetable gardens as the natural manure cow-dung is available at home etc. If one is ready to do hard work, there is  no need to search for government and other jobs,” says Deepjyoti Tahbildar, a young milk farmer,  who passed his 10th final examination with flying colours in 2005 and who has completed his graduation last year.  

Each of these co-operative societies has its own collection center. Milk thus collected is finally taken to the 2000 liter capacity chilling plant located in the Nityananda area. After the cooling process is over, the collected milk is sent to the Purabi Plant of NDDB, Guwahati twice a day by a tanker. The Dairy Development Department, Assam has already decided to set up a full-fledged milk processing plant at Barbang area. Although construction of the building has been completed, machinery for the purpose is yet to be installed. These co-operative societies also help milk farmers get financial assistance for purchasing cattle, soft loans during lean periods etc.

With an increased milk production, a supportive market for milk products including curd, cream and paneer is also booming in these pockets. The quality of milk produced in greater Pathsala area too, is very high and shows high Solid Net Fat (SNF) when analyzed by the computerized testing equipment which have been set up in the chilling plant. ‘High SNF in per liter milk has been found particularly in the milk brought by the milk farmers of this area, as most of the farmers cultivate fodder grass at their own paddy fields. Regular feeding of fodder grass is highly useful in maintaining the nutrient value of the cattle. These passionate farmers, eager to improve their socio-economic conditions though this milk business, grow fodder grass both individually and collectively which is very essential in the quest to have better quality milk,’ says Pathak.

The fodder grass can be grown in the paddy fields of the farmers immediately after the crop season is over. Some of the high quality fodder grass includes Reena, Napier, Oat, Nutri-vit etc. Some of these grass varieties can be harvested for up to three times. These high-quality fodder-grasses can also be stored as dry feed after cultivation. Apart from fresh nutrition supply thorough green fodder, scientific management of health and hygiene too are responsible for the high quality milk production.

Milk farmers have also been benefited through the World Bank-funded projects aiming at upgrade of indigenous cattle through artificial insemination, and providing assistance for cattle nutrition health care, cattle diseases control etc. which was started throughout the state during 2002.

However, in spite of the opportunities for future prosperity, most of the farmers are complaining about acute shortage of power supply and lack of irrigation facilities to grow fodder grass. “We are getting power supply only for a few hours a day, which has deeply affected our business. We need power almost round the clock to maintain the hygienic conditions in the shed and to prepare milk products like curd, cream and paneer. Due to acute shortage of power, I personally had to procure a generator set last year spending `50,000. However, the price of fuel (diesel) needed to run the generator set is also very high. I genuinely need a cold storage as I get huge orders for curd, particularly during the festivals and the monsoon season, but I cannot purchase it due to erratic power supply,” says Bimal Sharma.

TOTAL MILK PRODUCTION ASSAM 2010-11 (IN MILLION LITERS)
Season	Cross-breed cattle	Indigenous cattle	Overall	Buffalo	Goat	Total
2010-11	230.79	471.14	701.93	106.19	24.60	832.72
2009-10	202.15	495.55	697.70	107.52	24.64	829.86
2008-09	183.60	507.36	690.96	109.89	26.14	827.01
2007-08	181.33	506.42	687.75	109.26	27.38	824.39
Variation % 2010-11 over 2009-10	(+)14.2	(-)4.9		(+)1.2	(-)0.2	(+)0/34
According to reports of Economic Survey, Assam, 2012-13, total milk production of Assam during 2010-11 was 832.72 million liters, against an estimated production of 829.86 million liters during 2009-10. This was only a 0.34 per cent growth in comparison to the previous year. Cattle milk contributes to over 84 per cent of the total production of milk in the State. However, milk production of crosss-breed cattle has been showing a positive growth during recent periods. According to the Survey report there are 84,69,106 indigenous and 4,99,654 cross-breed cattle in the State. During the year 2010-11, per capita/per day milk availability in the State was only 74 ml, against the national average of 281 grams, leaving a huge gap. In Barpeta district, to which the greater Pathsala milk farmers belong, the number of indigenous cattle estimated as 3,53,887 against a 35,442 cross-breed cattle population.

Similar allegations also came from a section of youth who grow fodder grass covering around 3 hectares on a collective basis who have been affected badly by the lack of irrigation facilities. “In fodder grass cultivation, the water should not be deposited on the ground. However, it needs a huge amount of water to grow, which needs to be sprayed. However, the lack of irrigation facilities in the fields had badly affected the grass cultivation. Although we submitted applications to the concerned authorities to make provisions for irrigation facilities, such attempts did not work, and the production suffered,” says Sibnath Kalita, a milk farmer in Nityananda.

These co-operative societies, however, have easy access to financial institutions located in the nearby areas. “We have provided financial assistance to over 370 families in Nityananda and Baghmora area. We provide subsidized loans through NABARD and Employment Guaranteed Mission (EGM). We provide financial assistance through these farmers through NABARD and EGM at 37 per cent subsidy. The recovery rate is highly satisfactory. We also organize regular meetings to sensitize these beneficiaries regarding repayment with the help of co-operative societies. All these efforts have yielded good results,” says Suparna Sharma, Assistant General Manager, Union Bank of India, Pathsala Branch.

Apart from Union Bank of India, subsidized financial assistance has been provided to other institutions like Assam Grameen Bikash Bank. The WAMUL authorities make regular payments of their procurement after every 10 days through the nearby Bank institutions to the farmers.

The Birth Of Amul The international brand Amul also started along similar lines. The seeds of this unusual saga were sown more than 65 years back in Anand, a small town in the state of Gujarat in western India. The exploitative trade practices followed by the local trade cartel triggered off the cooperative movement. Angered by unfair and manipulative practices followed by the trade, the farmers of the district approached the great Indian patriot Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for a solution. He advised them to get rid of middlemen and form their own co-operative, which would have procurement, processing and marketing under their control. In 1946, the farmers of this area went on a milk strike refusing to be cowed down by the cartel. Under the inspiration of Sardar Patel, and the guidance of leaders like Morarji Desai and Tribhuvandas Patel, they formed their own co - operative in 1946.  This co-operative, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd. began with just two village dairy co-operative societies and 247 litres of milk and is today better known as Amul Dairy. Amul grew from strength to strength thanks to the inspired leadership of Tribhuvandas Patel, the founder Chairman and the committed professionalism of Dr Verghese Kurien,who was entrusted the task of running the dairy from 1950. The then Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri decided that the same approach should become the basis of a National Dairy Development policy. He understood that the success of Amul could be attributed to four important factors. The farmers owned the dairy, their elected representatives managed the village societies and the district union,  they employed professionals to operate the dairy and manage its business. Most importantly, the co-operatives were sensitive to the needs of farmers and responsive to their demands. At his instance in 1965 the National Dairy Development Board was set up with the basic objective of replicating the Amul model. Dr. Kurien was chosen to head the institution as its Chairman and asked to replicate this model throughout the country.

Ratna Bharali Talukdar