Anand Pattern of Cooperatives
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. Operation Flood, which was perhaps, world‘s largest development programme, was based on the rich experience gained from the Amul model, also popularly known as ‗Anand Pattern‘, which is an innovative three-tier organisation structure combines the productive genius of farmers with professional management and modern technology. The facilities at all levels are entirely farmer-owned. The cooperatives are able to build markets, supply inputs and create value-added processing. Prompt and remunerative payment for produce of good quality has ensured the best incentive for the farmer to increase production and quality. 1. The three-tier ‘Anand Pattern’ structure The three-tier ‗Anand Pattern‘ structure consists of a Dairy Cooperative Society (DCS) at village level affiliated to a milk union at district level and they are further federated into a milk federation at state level. The above three-tier structure was formed in order to delegate responsibilities at various levels such that there is no internal competition and economics of scale is achieved. The village 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. The main function of this cooperative society is to collect surplus milk from the milk producers of the village and make payment based on quality and quantity. it also provide support services to the members like veterinary first aid, artificial insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture sales, fodder and fodder seed sales, conducting training on animal husbandry and dairying, etc. The district-level milk union is the second tier under the three-tier structure. It has membership of village societies of the district...