Gujarat signs agreement to support rural women milk producers

Gujarat signed the memorandum in Rajkot in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Jitu Vaghani, the minister for animal husbandry and rural development. The agreement establishes a joint framework for integrating women-led dairy self-help groups into the organised cooperative sector.

Under the arrangement, the Gujarat Livelihood Promotion Company will identify eligible producers and help organise them into formal dairy collectives. It will also facilitate access to institutional bank loans and applicable government interest-subsidy schemes. The programme is intended to connect women producers with direct bank accounts and formal credit records.

The Animal Husbandry Department will provide technical support covering targeted vaccination, scheduled deworming, advice on animal selection and artificial insemination using superior genetics. The agreement also provides for scientific herd-health practices and quality-based milk collection. Automated testing equipment and digital lactometers at village collection points are intended to record butterfat and solids-not-fat levels for producer payments.

The Cooperation Department will link women’s producer groups with primary dairy cooperative societies and district cooperative milk unions. The groups may receive administrative and technical support for collective purchases of cattle-feed concentrates, the creation of community chilling facilities, and local dairy processing, packaging and marketing.

State- and district-level coordination committees have been established to supervise implementation and connect self-help groups with senior dairy institutions. The agreement also covers access to veterinary care, livestock breed-improvement programmes and cooperative value chains. Gujarat’s dairy sector is built around rural households in which women manage family herds, commonly consisting of two to five cattle or buffaloes.