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Vasudhara Adivasi Dairy Cooperative
India's White Revolution has made the country the largest milk producer in the world, but this has bypassed the Adivasi heartland of the central Indian plateau. The Vasudhara cooperative, which has organised 1,20,000 mostly Adivasi women from Valsad, Navsari, Dang and Dhule districts into a Rs 1,000-crore dairy business, provides a model for India's second White Revolution designed to empower Adivasi women.
1 Amul Model
While the contribution of Amul-pattern dairy cooperatives to making India the world’s largest milk producer is widely recognised, their track record in fostering inclusive, pro-poor dairy development across the country has remained underwhelming. Successful dairy cooperatives today are all concentrated in the western corridor of India, from Punjab down to Kerala. More tellingly, 65 years after Amul was founded, not even one out of over 30 core Adivasi districts across the central Indian plateau — with over 30% of the Adivasi population — has a successful dairy cooperative.
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