Co-operative Dairy Business in Maharashtra

Dairying has been a part and parcel of Indian culture and civilization from the ancient times and remains so even today. The country was said to be flowing with rivers and milk. The importance of milk and milk products in human nutrition was well recognized. In India, dairying has emerged as the country's second most important agricultural activity in terms of value of output. In India the share of livestock sector in GDP is increasing despite the continuous decrease in the share of agriculture sector in GDP. The need for dairy development in countries like India arise due to several consideration such as low per capita availability of milk, prevalence of large scale unemployment and underemployment, increasing the living condition of rural poor, achieving self-sufficiency in the production of milk and milk products and save valuable foreign exchange. Milk production in Maharashtra grew at the annual average rate of 6.01 percent during the period from 1970-71 to 2000-01. It grew at the highest rate of 7.25 percent during eighties.