In India 70 million households, produce milk contributing 5% to the GDP. Out of which 70% milk comes from semi-medium / small, marginal & landless and 22% rural landless are involved in dairy. Interestingly livestock wealth is more equitable than land. Recent study of World Bank reveals that dairy is the best rewarding livelihood option for the rural poor. Agriculture is subject to the vagaries of monsoon and net realizations have not improved over the last decade. This has lead to several cases of farmers committing suicides unable to bear the losses. On the other hand, dairying is more remunerative for poor. Low per capita consumption of milk and increasing urban incomes gives the scope for farmers to earn regular income. Dairying is a pro poor livelihood option as income flows every day with low investment and few hours of work per day. Dairying is also an activity where women are actively involved giving them opportunity to retain income to meet household needs. Organized Dairying initiatives have demonstrated that enabling market linkages has resulted in increased returns from milk produce. While there are institutions and individuals collecting milk from the villages, what is lacking is a comprehensive setup offering or facilitating the entire gamut of services covering animal health, insurance, breeding, and nutrition along with market linkages. Without concentration on improving productivity or quality, overall development of the producer or rural economy will not happen. There is an urgent need for institutional structures owned and controlled by the producers themselves. Such an institution should not only be able to enhance the gain of the producers but should also be able to build higher stakes for them in the business.

The objectives of the programme are: • To understand the basics of effective dairy enterprise • To prepare business and intervention plan for promoting dairy enterprises dealing marketing and management enabling producers get their rightful share • To understand the process of nurturing collective dairy enterprises adding value to milk produced.