Women-Led Milk Revolution Empowering Rural India

NDDB Dairy Services is driving a women-led dairy revolution, empowering rural families through milk producer organisations across the country.

- 

When milk becomes more than a commodity and transforms into a vehicle for social change, the impact can reshape entire communities. This is the vision that drives NDDB Dairy Services (NDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Since 2009, NDS has been building rural prosperity by enabling small and marginal farmers, especially women, to own and manage their future through Milk Producer Organisations (MPOs).

Independent India's cooperative movement laid the foundation for producer-owned enterprises, but NDS has reimagined it for the 21st century. Recognising the potential of rural women, it has facilitated 24 MPOs across the country, 18 of them with all-women membership and 20 led by women chairpersons. Together, they cover 37,000 villages and 12.5 lakh farmer members, 77 per cent of whom are women.