New Delhi: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited (SPCDF) on Sunday with an initial corpus of ₹200 crore, marking a significant step to bring crores of unorganised pashupalaks into the cooperative fold.
Though GCMMF (Amul) and various state dairy federations operate successfully, millions of dairy farmers continue selling milk directly in local markets, depriving them of fair prices, government schemes, and institutional support.
According to experts, nearly five lakh villages still remain outside any cooperative structure.
Registered in Gandhinagar under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, the SPCDF will procure milk from around 20,000 unaffiliated village-level dairy societies across 20 states (including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) and two union territories. It has pledged not to compete with GCMMF or existing state federations.
The equity structure comprises 20% from GCMMF, 60% from Gujarat’s district milk unions, and 20% from village-level societies of other states/UTs.
Managing Director of GCMMF Jayen Mehta stated, “We are exclusively integrating village societies and farmers who lack representation from any state-level dairy body.”
The federation aims to mirror Amul’s model by ensuring fair procurement, better pricing, and access to schemes for marginal dairy farmers.