CB BureauTowards the end of 2019, Maharashtra’s first all-women dairy enterprise was launched in Maval, Pune, with support from Tata Power. The Maval Dairy Farmer Services Producer Company Ltd has membership of 1,200 women farmers who run and manage the project and have assumed leadership roles.
Established in 2015 with just 334 members, the Dairy’s members have moved from being marginal farmers to agro-entrepreneurs, as per the company’s claims. The project was realised through a collaboration between the community women of the region and Tata Power.
So far the project has developed 15 advanced milk-collection centres across 26 villages. It has also ensured that there is transparency in the operations and commercial handling of the plant and the dairy farmers receive the actual price realisation of their produce, although it is not clear how this is done. Currently, the plant procures around 6,000 litres/day of milk from various villages associated with the project.
Efforts are being made towards enhancing milk collection and adding new members to the dairy by conducting surveys in surrounding areas and identifying the requirements of people in Maval. To meet the requirement and run the plant at its full capacity, the project has added 15 new villages to the project. Over the last four years, the local pastoral community that covers 3,000 farmer households has also integrated other support services like mini dairy farms, veterinary services, training for managing dairy farms, and product marketing.
The dairy plans to not only supply milk to larger cities like Mumbai and Pune but also produce high-quality dairy products including paneer (cottage cheese), cream and buttermilk. The milk is currently being sold to consumers in Mumbai and Pune under the brand name Creyo.
CB’s questions on the average income and the average increase in income for the women farmers, Tata Power’s role, and impact assessment were left unanswered by the company.
In a press release shared with CB, Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power, said: ‘The real heroes of this story are the women who took the co-operative route to chart their own destinies and are today a shining example of what self-help can achieve.’
‘Traditionally, men have dominated the dairy cooperative business in India, but there has been a progressive change. Essentially, the roles of women were restricted to care providers, feeding and milking the animals. In recent times, their increased participation has strengthened the dairy cooperative movement. Our thought behind starting this project was empowering these rural women by giving them a platform to completely run and manage the project. To encourage all the women members of the Maval dairy to assume leadership roles, they were provided ‘Mini Dairy Entrepreneurship’ certification and orientation training on clean milk production and animal management,’ said Ashwin G Patil, head- hydros, Tata Power.