Impact of Dairy Cooperatives on the Economy of Rural Households

India is the largest producer of milk with a share of 14.5 per cent of the total world s milk production. Dairy cooperatives have played an important role to improve the economy of milk producers in different regions of the country. It has not only provided organized network of milk marketing to the rural households, but also provided the crucial technical inputs like provision of artificial insemination, health services and feed inputs. Thus, considering the significant role of dairy cooperatives in socio-economic development of rural economy, an attempt been made to assess the impact of dairy cooperatives in this book. In order to assess the impact of dairy cooperatives on the overall economy of rural households, socio-economic parameters such as production, consumption, marketed surplus of milk, cost of milk production, income and employment were taken into account. All these parameters were explained with the help of tabular and functional analysis. The subject matter has been presented in simple language. This book can serve as a good reference material for the students, teachers/scientists, researchers, policy makers,staff of agricultural economics and dairy economics.