Vol. 10, Special Issue 8 (2021)

Author(s):
Ashish K Makwana

Abstract:
The milk producers of a village, having surplus milk after own consumption, come together and form a Village Dairy Cooperative Society (VDCS). The Village Dairy Cooperative is the primary society under the three-tier structure. It has membership of milk producers of the village and is governed by an elected Management Committee consisting of 9 to 12 elected representatives of the milk producers based on the principle of one member, one vote. The village society further appoints a Secretary (a paid employee and member secretary of the Management Committee) for management of the day-to-day functions. It also employs various people for assisting the secretary in accomplishing his / her daily duties. The main functions of the VDCS are as follows: Collection of surplus milk from the milk producers of the village & payment based on quality & quantity, Providing support services to the members like Veterinary First Aid, Artificial Insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture sales, fodder & fodder seed sales, conducting training on Animal Husbandry & Dairying, etc., Selling liquid milk for local consumers of the village, supplying milk to the District Milk Union etc. Thus, the VDCS in an independent entity managed locally by the milk producers and assisted by the District Milk Union.