Amul: A Successful Co-operative Movement in India

• Amul is India’s most famous dairy cooperative, established in 1946 at Anand, Gujarat.
• It was formed to protect small milk farmers from being exploited by powerful middlemen who paid them poorly.

• Farmers worked hard but were paid low prices for their milk because middlemen controlled the market.
• This manipulation left farmers with little profit and no negotiating power.

Farmers formed a cooperative society, a group owned and operated by its members, with equal benefits.

The cooperative is built in three levels:

• Village Dairy Society: Where farmers deliver their milk.
• District Milk Union: Where milk is collected, tested, and processed.
• State Cooperative Federation (GCMMF): Markets and sells Amul products nationwide.

• Amul started as a cooperative to protect farmers from unfair traders.
• It now stands as a powerful example of “unity is strength.”
• The cooperative model helped transform India’s dairy sector.