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Dairy is a place where handling of milk and milk products is done and technology refers to the
application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Dairy technology has been defined as that
branch of dairy science, which deals with the processing of milk and the manufacture of milk
products on an industrial scale.

The dairy sector in the India has shown remarkable development in the past decade and India has
now become one of the largest producers of milk and value-added milk products in the world.

The dairy sector has developed through co-operatives in many parts of the State. During 1997-98,
the State had 60 milk processing plants with an aggregate processing capacity of 5.8 million litres per
day. In addition to these processing plants, 123 Government and 33 co-operatives milk chilling
centers operate in the State.

Also India today is the lowest cost producer of per litre of milk in the world, at 27 cents, compared
with the U.S' 63 cents, and Japan͛s $2.8 dollars. Also to take advantage of this lowest cost of milk
production and increasing production in the country multinational companies are planning to
expand their activities here. Some of these milk producers have already obtained quality standard
certificates from the authorities. This will help them in marketing their products in foreign countries
in processed form.

The urban market for milk products is expected to grow at an accelerated pace of around 33% per
annum to around Rs.43, 500 crores by year 2005. This growth is going to come from the greater
emphasis on the processed foods sector and also by increase in the conversion of milk into milk
products. By 2005, the value of Indian dairy produce is expected to be Rs 10, 00, 000 million.
Presently the market is valued at around Rs.7, 00, 000 mn





Rural Marketing, Rural promotion and distribution, Meta Market, value chain

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In the year 1946 the first milk union was established. This union was started with 250 liters of milk
per day. In the year 1955 AMUL was established. In the year 1946 the union was known as KAIRA
DISTRICT CO-OPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS͛ UNION. This union selected the brand name AMUL in
1955.

The brand name Amul means ͞AMULYA͟. This word derived form the Sanskrit word ͞AMULYA͟
which means ͞PRICELESS͟. A quality control expert in Anand had suggested the brand name
͞AMUL͟. Amul products have been in use in millions of homes since 1946. Amul Butter, Amul Milk
Powder, Amul Ghee, Amulspray, Amul Cheese, Amul Chocolates, Amul Shrikhand, Amul Ice cream,
Nutramul, Amul Milk and Amulya have made Amul a leading food brand in India. (The total sale is Rs.
6 billion in 2005). Today Amul is a symbol of many things like of the high-quality

products sold at reasonable prices, of the genesis of a vast cooperative network, of the triumph of
indigenous technology, of the marketing savvy of a farmers' organization. And have a proven model
for dairy development (Generally known as ͞ANAND

PATTERN͟).

In the early 40͛s, the main sources of earning for the farmers of Kaira district were farming and
selling of milk. That time there was high demand for milk in Bombay. The main supplier of the milk
was Polson dairy limited, which was a privately owned company and held monopoly over the supply
of milk at Bombay from the Kaira

district. This system leads to exploitation of poor and illiterates͛ farmers by the private traders. The
traders used to beside the prices of milk and the farmers were forced to accept it without uttering a
single word.

However, when the exploitation became intolerable, the farmers were frustrated. They collectively
appealed to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was a leading activist in the freedom movement. Sardar
Patel advised the farmers to sell the milk on their own by establishing a co-operative union, Instead
of supplying milk to private traders. Sardar Patel sent the farmers to Shri Morarji Desai in order to
gain his co-operation and help. Shri Desai held a meeting at Samarkha village near Anand, on 4th
January 1946. He advised the farmers to form a society for collection of the milk.
These village societies would collect the milk themselves and would decide the prices at which they
can sell the milk. The district union was also form to collect the milk from such village cooperative
societies and to sell them. It was also resolved that the Government should be asked to buy milk
from the union.
However, the govt. did not seem to help farmers by any means. It gave the negative response by
turning down the demand for the milk. To respond to this action of govt., the farmers of Kaira
district went on a milk strike. For 15 whole days not a single drop of milk was sold to the traders. As
a result the Bombay milk scheme was

severely affected. The milk commissioner of Bombay then visited Anand to assess the situation.
Having seemed the condition, he decided to fulfill the farmers demand. Thus their cooperative
unions were forced at the village and district level to collect and sell milk on a cooperative basis,
without the intervention of Government. Mr. Verghese Kurien showed main interest in establishing
union who was supported by

Shri Tribhuvandas Patel who lead the farmers in forming the Cooperative unions at the village level.
The Kaira district milk producers union was thus established in ANAND and was registered formally
on 14th December 1946. Since farmers sold all the milk in Anand through a co-operative union, it
was commonly resolved to sell the milk under the brand name AMUL.
At the initial stage only 250 liters of milk was collected everyday. But with the growing awareness of
the benefits of the cooperativeness, the collection of milk increased. Today Amul collect 11 lakhs
liters of milk everyday. Since milk was a perishable commodity it becomes difficult to preserve milk
flora longer period. Besides when the milk was to be collected from the far places, there was a fear
of spoiling of milk. To overcome this problem the union thought out to develop the chilling unit at
various junctions, which would collect the milk and could chill it, so as to preserve it for a longer
period. Thus, today Amul has more than 150 chilling centers in various villages. Milk is collected from
almost 1073 societies.

With the financial help from UNICEF, assistance from the govt. of New Zealand under the Colombo
plan, of Rs. 50 millions for factory to manufacture milk powder and butter was planned.
Dr.Rajendra Prasad, the president of India laid the foundation on November 15, 1954. Shri Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India declared it open at Amul dairy on November 20, 1955.

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