Amul

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Indian dairy cooperative. For the ancient city of Āmul along the Oxus, see Türkmenabat.
For the city in Iran, see Amol.

Amul

Type Cooperative

Industry Dairy/FMCG

Founded 1946

Headquarters Anand, Gujarat, India

Key people Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF)

Products See complete products listing

Revenue US$3.4 billion (2014–15)

Number of 750 employees of Marketing Arm. However, real pool consist of 3.6 million milk producer
employees members[1]

Parent GCMMF [1]

Slogan The Taste of India

Website [Link]

The Amul Plant at Anand showing the milk silos

Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative, based at Anand in the state of Gujarat, India.[2]
Formed in 1946, it is a brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat. [3]
Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and
milk products.[4] In the process Amul became the largest food brand in India and has ventured into
markets overseas.
Dr Verghese Kurien, founder-chairman of the GCMMF for more than 30 years (1973–2006), is credited
with the success of Amul.[5]

History[edit]
Amul-operative registered on 14 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of marginal milk
producers by traders or agents of the only existing dairy, the Polson dairy, in the small city distances to
deliver milk, which often went sour in summer, to Polson. The prices of milk were arbitrarily determined.
Moreover, the government had given monopoly rights to Polson to collect milk from mikka and supply it
to Bombay city.[6][7]
Angered by the unfair trade practices, the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under
the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. He advised them to form a cooperative and
supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did the same but gave them
low prices).[8] He sent Morarji Desai to organise the farmers. In 1946, the milk farmers of the area went
on a strike which led to the setting up of the cooperative to collect and process milk. [7] Milk collection
was decentralized, as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of
milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each village, too.[9]
The cooperative was further developed and managed by [Link] Kurien with H.M. Dalaya.
Dalaya's innovation of making skim milk powder from buffalo milk (for the first time in the world) and a
little later, with Kurien's help, making it on a commercial scale,[10] led to the first modern dairy of the
cooperative at Anand, which would compete against established players in the market. Kurien's
brother-in-law K.M. Philip sensitized Kurien to the needs of attending to the finer points of marketing,
including the creation and popularization of a brand. This led to the search for an attractive brand
name. In a brainstorming session, a chemist who worked in the dairy laboratory suggested Amul, which
came from the Sanskrit word "amulya", which means "priceless" and "denoted and symbolised the
pride of swadeshi production."[11]
The trio's (T. K. Patel, Kurien and Dalaya's) success at the cooperative's dairy soon spread to Anand's
neighbourhood in Gujarat. Within a short span, five unions in other districts – Mehsana, Banaskantha,
Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat – were set up.[7] To combine forces and expand the market while
saving on advertising and avoid competing against each other, the GCMMF, an apex marketing body of
these district cooperatives, was set up in 1973. The Kaira Union, which had the brand name Amul with
it since 1955, transferred it to GCMMF.[12]
In 1999, it was awarded the "Best of all" Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award.[13]
Adding to the success, Dr. Madan Mohan Kashyap (faculty Agricultural and Engineering Department,
Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana), Dr. Bondurant (visiting faculty) and Dr Feryll (former student
of Dr Verghese Kurien), visited the Amul factory in Gujarat as a research team headed by Dr.
Bheemsen & Shivdayal Pathak (ex-director of the Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute)
in the 1960s. A milk pasteurization system at the Research Centre of Punjab Agricultural University
(PAU) Ludhiana was then formed under the guidance of Kashyap. The technological developments in
Gujarat have subsequently spread to other parts of India.
In November 2015, KM Jhala was appointed as the chief operating officer. Jhala was previously the
chief general manager before this appointment.[14]

About GCMMF[edit]
The GCMMF is the largest food products marketing organisation of India. It is the apex organisation of the dairy
cooperatives of Gujarat. It is the exclusive marketing organisation for products under the brand name of Amul
and Sagar.[1] Over the last five and a half decades, dairy cooperatives in Gujarat have created an economic
network that links more than 3.1 million village milk products with millions of consumers in India. Gujarat
Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), is India's largest food product marketing organisation with
annual turnover (2014–15) US$3.4 billion. Its daily milk procurement is approx 14.85 million lit per day from
18,536 village milk cooperative societies, 17 member unions covering 33 districts, and 3.37 million milk producer
members. More than 70% of the members are small or marginal farmers and landless labourers including a
sizeable population of tribal folk and people belonging to the scheduled castes.[1]

The three-tier "Amul Model"[edit]

The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a dairy cooperative society at the
village level affiliated to a milk union at the district level which in turn is federated into a milk federation at the
state level. Milk collection is done at the village dairy society, milk procurement and processing at the District Milk
Union and milk products marketing at the state milk federation. The structure was evolved at Amul in Gujarat and
thereafter replicated all over the country under the Operation Flood programme. It is known as the 'Amul Model'
or 'Anand Pattern' of dairy cooperatives.

Products[edit]

A can of AMUL cow ghee

Amul's product range includes milk powders, milk, butter, ghee, cheese, dahi, yoghurt, buttermilk, chocolate, ice
cream,cream, shrikhand, paneer, gulab jamuns, flavoured milk, basundi and others. Amul PRO is a recently
launched brown beverage just like bournvita and horlicks offering whith protein, DHA and essential nutrients. In
January 2006, Amul launched India's first sports drink, Stamina, which competes with Coca-
Cola's Powerade and PepsiCo's Gatorade.[15]
Amul offers Mithai Mate which competes with Milkmaid by Nestle by offering more fat at lower price. [citation needed]
In August 2007, Amul introduced Kool Koko, a chocolate milk brand extending its product offering in the milk
products segment. Other Amul brands are Amul Kool, a low-calorie thirst quenching drink; Masti Butter Milk; and
Kool Cafe, ready to drink coffee.
Amul's icecreams are made from milk fat and thus are icecreams in real sense of the word, while many brands in
India sell frozen desserts made from vegetable fat.[citation needed]
Amul's sugar-free Pro-Biotic Ice-cream won The International Dairy Federation Marketing Award for 2007.[citation
needed]

UHT products and impact[edit]

Over the years Amul has been witnessing strong growth in this portfolio,with the segment growing at 53%, [16] as
a result of growing consumer awareness and demand for good quality milk,the urban population has especially
been showing great interest in long life UHT products like Amul Taaza,which are packed in Tetra
Pak cartons,which undergoes UHT treatment to remove all harmful micro-organisms while retaining the nutrition
in the [Link] Amul sells around 4-500,000 litres of UHT milk and other value added products per day and
forecast this demand to continue growing at 25%.The UHT products have enabled Amul to position itself as the
market leader in packaged milk segment by penetrating the deeper and vast markets by maintaining long shelf
life of milk,without the need of maintaining cold supply chains.[17]

Any Time Milk (ATM) Machine[edit]

Amul has installed a "Any Time Milk" machine which dispenses a 300-ml pouch of fresh milk for Rs 10, at
Anand's Amul Dairy. As a first step, Amul plans to install six such ATMss in Anand itself. According to Dr. K
Rathnam, MD of Amul Dairy, Amul wants to add a whole range of dairy products, which could be dispensed
through these machines.[18]

Advertising[edit]
In 1966, Amul hired Sylvester, then managing director of the advertising agency AS to design an ad campaign
for Amul Butter. daCunha designed a campaign as series of hoardings with topical ads, relating to day-to-day
issues.[19] It was popular and earned a Guinness world record for the longest running ad campaign in the world.
In the 1980s, cartoon artist Kumar Morey and script writer Bharat Dabholkar had been involved with sketching
the Amul ads; the latter rejected the trend of using celebrities in advertisement campaigns. Dabholkar credited
chairman Verghese Kurien with creating a free atmosphere that fostered the development of the ads.[20]
Despite encountering political pressure on several occasions, daCunha's agency has made it a policy of not
backing down. Some of the more controversial Amul ads include one commenting on the Naxalite uprising in
West Bengal, on the Indian Airlines employees strike, and one depicting the Amul butter girl wearing aGandhi
cap.[19]
In 2013, Amul tweeted a picture featuring the Amul butter girl, implying that 'freedom of choice' died in '2013', in
opposition to the Supreme Court of India overruling the judgment of Delhi High Court and criminalising
homosexuality again.[21]

In popular culture[edit]
The establishment of Amul is known as White Revolution.
The White Revolution inspired the notable Indian film-maker Shyam Benegal to base his film Manthan (1976) on
it. It starred Smita Patil, Girish Karnad,Naseeruddin Shah and Amrish Puri. The film was financed by over five
lakh rural farmers in Gujarat who contributed Rs 2 each to its budget. Upon its release, these farmers went in
truckloads to watch 'their' film, making it a commercial success.[22][23] Manthan was chosen for the 1977 National
Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.
GCMMF

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), is India's largest food product marketing
organisation with annual turnover (2015-16) US$ 3.5 billion. Its daily milk procurement is approx
16.97 million lit per day from 18,545 village milk cooperative societies, 18 member unions
covering 33 districts, and 3.6 million milk producer members.
It is the Apex organisation of the Dairy Cooperatives of Gujarat, popularly known as'AMUL',which aims to
provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interest of consumers by providing quality
products which are good value for money. Its success has not only been emulated in India but serves as a
model for rest of the World. It is exclusive marketing organisation of 'Amul' and 'Sagar' branded products.
It operates through 56 Sales Offices and has a dealer network of 10000 dealers and 10 lakh retailers, one of
the largest such networks in India. Its product range comprises milk, milk powder, health beverages, ghee,
butter, cheese, Pizza cheese,Ice-cream, Paneer, chocolates, and traditional Indian sweets, etc.
GCMMF is India's largest exporter of Dairy Products. It has been accorded a "Trading House"status. Many of
our products are available in USA, Gulf Countries,Singapore, The Philippines, Japan, China and Australia.
GCMMF has received the APEDA Award from Government of India for Excellence in Dairy Product Exports for
the last 16 years. For the year 2009-10, GCMMF has been awarded "Golden Trophy" for its outstanding
export performance and contribution in dairy products sector by APEDA. In 2013-14, GCMMF took giant
strides in expanding its presence in International markets. Amul’s presence on Global Dairy Trade (GDT)
platform in which only the top six dairy players of the world sell their products, has earned respect and
recognition across the world. By selling milk powders on GDT, GCMMF could not only realize better prices as
per market demand but it also firmly established Amul in the league of top dairy players in world trade.

For its consistent adherence to quality, customer focus and dependability, GCMMF has received numerous
awards and accolades over the years. It received the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award in1999 in Best of
All Category. In 2002 GCMMF bagged India's Most Respected Company Award instituted by Business World.
In 2003, it was awarded the The IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award - 2003 - certificate of merit-
for adopting noteworthy quality management practices for logistics and procurement. GCMMF is the first and
only Indian organisation to win topmost International Dairy Federation Marketing Award for probiotic ice
cream launch in 2007. For the innovations, GCMMF has received AIMA-RK Swamy High Performance brand
award 2013 and CNN-IBN Innovating for better tomorrow award in 2014. World Dairy Innovation Awards-
2014 for Best Marketing Campaign - "Eat Milk with Every Meal". For the tree plantation activity GCMMF has
received seven consecutive Good Green Governance award from Srishti during 2007 to 2013.

The Amul brand is not only a product, but also a movement. It is in one way, the representation of the
economic freedom of farmers. It has given farmers the courage to dream. To hope. To live.

GCMMF - An Overview
Year of Establishment 1973

Members 18 District Cooperative Milk Producers' Unions

No. of Producer Members 3.6 Million

No. of Village Societies 18,545

Total Milk handling capacity per day 28 Million litres per day

Milk Collection (Total - 2015-16) 6.2 billion litres

 Milk collection (Daily Average 2015-16)16.97 million litres

Cattlefeed manufacturing Capacity 7800 Mts. per day

Sales Turnover -(2015-16) Rs. 22972 Crores (US $ 3.5 Billion)

 CRISIL Rating for GCMMF

 Milk Purchase Price
Our Member Unions
1. Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anand
2. Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, Mehsana
3. Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Himatnagar
4. Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Palanpur
5. Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surat
6. Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Vadodara
7. Panchmahal District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Godhra
8. Valsad District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Valsad
9. Bharuch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Bharuch
[Link] District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd.,Ahmedabad
11. Rajkot District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Rajkot
12. Gandhinagar District Cooperative Milk Producers'Union Ltd., Gandhinagar
13. Surendranagar District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surendranagar
14. Amreli District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Amreli
15. Bhavnagar District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Bhavnagar
16. Kutch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anjar
17. Junagadh District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited,Junagadh
18. Porbandar District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd, Porbandar

Sales Turnover Rs (million) US$ (in million)

1994-95 11140 355

1995-96 13790 400

1996-97 15540 450

1997-98 18840 455

1998-99 22192 493

1999-00 22185 493

2000-01 22588 500

2001-02 23365 500

2002-03 27457 575

2003-04 28941 616

 Sales Turnover Rs (million) US$ (in million)

2004-05 29225 672

2005-06 37736 850

2006-07 42778 1050

2007-08 52554 1325

2008-09 67113 1504

2009-10 80053 1700

2010-11 97742 2172

2011-12 116680 2500

2012-13 137350 2540

2013-14 181434 3024

2014-15 207330 3410

2015-16 229720 3500

Our Office:

Head Office:
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.
Amul Dairy Road,
P B No.10, Anand - 388 001,
Gujarat, India.
An Overview

The Organisation – An Overview

Number of Producer Members 6,84,807

Number of Village Dairy Cooperative Societies 1215

Total Milk Handling Capacity 5 Million liters per day

Milk Collection (Daily Average) 1.8 Million liters

Milk Drying Capacity 100 Mts per day

Whey Drying Capacity 60 Mts per day

Cattle Feed Manufacturing Capacity 1200 Mts per day

Sales Turnover Rs (Million) US $ (in million)

2004-05 6000 138

2005-06 7090 160

2006-07 8220 202

2007-08 10770 272

2008-09 13780 310

2009-10 16950 360

2010-11 21110 469

2011-12 24660 528

2012-13 28500 528

2013-14 34410 574

2014-15 41420 681

Note: There are, in all, 17 District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Unions federated to Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing

Federation Limited, Anand which markets milk and milk products under the brand of Amul & Sagar.
As the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) registered its highest ever growth of
32 per cent in turnover crossing Rs 18,000 crore in FY14, the federation said that the new dairy
projects coming onstream across the country would create an additional processing capacity of six
million litres per day in the coming years.

GCMMF managing director RS Sodhi said, “In line with increase in our milk procurement, our
processing capacities across all member unions have also been enhanced from 17 million litres per day
to 23.2 million litres per day, in the last three years. Our new dairy projects in Amreli, Bharuch,
Surendranagar, Kutch and Bhavnagar will help to further enhance our capacity. In the pipeline are new
dairy projects at Rohtak, Faridabad, Kanpur, Lucknow and Kolkata. Once all these new plants are
commissioned, our combined processing capacity will be enhanced by another 6 million litres per day.”

Sodhi further informed that GCMMF plans to achieve turnover of Rs . 21,600 crores in the year 2014-
15. GCMMF which markets the popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products has registered highest
ever growth of 32.1 per cent , to achieve turnover of Rs . 18143.46 crores during 2013-14.

The federation has managed to achieve impressive 23 per cent cumulative average growth rate
(CAGR) over the last six years by leveraging on several marketing and technological innovations as
well as enhanced distribution reach.

In fact, the group turnover of GCMMF and its constituent member unions, representing un-duplicated
turnover of all products sold under Amul brand was Rs 25,500 crores or $ 4.2 billion.

Moving ahead Amul plans to enhance and widen its product portfolio, based on demand and
expectations of its loyal consumers.

During the last four years, GCMMF has ensured 59 per cent increase in milk procurement price to its
farmers, resulting in 46 per cent growth in milk procurement during the same period.

During 2013-14, Amul long-life UHT Milk had shown an impressive value growth of 40 per cent and
sales of Amul UHT Cream also increased by 37 per cent in value terms. Amul’s milk beverages range
showed quantum value growth of 25 per cent.

In Ghee, their two mega-brands Amul & Sagar together achieved very impressive growth of 46 per cent
in value terms.

Sales of Amul Butter and Amul Cheese achieved impressive 21 per cent and 22 per cent value
growth respectively. Amul Fresh Milk sales increased by 23 per cent as Amul became the leading
brand of fresh milk in several major cities of India.

Jethabhai Patel, who represents Sabar Dairy, chaired the annual general meeting.
Marketing strategy of Amul
By Hitesh Bhasin July 29, 2016

The Marketing strategy of Amul covers various aspects of the business right from
segmentation and targeting to the overall mission and vision of the company and the
various parameters which the company executes to become the top brand that it has in the
market. So what is the marketing strategy of Amul? Let us discuss
Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy of Amul – The
segmentation of Amul is the mass population and in general, you will find people of all
different age groups and demography enjoying Amul products. This is because Amul is not
only present in Ice cream, but also in Milk, Butter, Cheese and other such products. As it has
a very deep product portfolio, it does not differentiate in its customers but uses a mass
marketing principle. And till date, this principle has worked very well for the marketing
strategy of Amul. Similarly, the target audience are the regular middle class people. This is
because higher end customers do have a lot of high end products as an alternative in ice
cream. However, for other products like Butter and cheese, both high end and low end
customers are the target. In terms of positioning, Amul has top of the mind positioning
because it is the first brand which comes in mind when talking of Ice cream, milk, cheese,
butter or any other milk based products.
Marketing mix – Refer this article for the marketing mix of Amul.
SWOT analysis – Refer this article for the SWOT analysis of Amul.
Mission – “We the motivated and dedicated workforce at amul are committed to produce
wholesome and safe foods of excellent quality to remain market leader
throughdevelopment of quality management system, state of art technology, innovation and
eco-friendly operations to achieve delightment of customers and milk producers”.
Vision – Amul has a vision to provide more and more satisfaction to the farmers,
employees and distributors.
Tagline – The taste of India.
Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy of Amul – There are two major
competitive advantages of Amul over other brands. First and foremost is the supply chain.
Because of the large numbers of dairy suppliers, Amul has a tremendous strength and
reliability in its supply chain. Hence it is able to produce such high volumes. The second
competitive advantage is the wide product portfolio due to which it can run Amul shoppe’s
and also have its products present in retail. The product portfolio is such that products like
Butter and Ice cream are cash cows for the company.
BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Amul – When we plot the BCG matrix,
Amul has certain products which are stars whereas others are cash cows. And in fact, Amul
chocolates are question marks because they have very low market share in a growing
market. Amul ice cream and Amul butter can clearly be said to be a cash cow because they
have very high market share and the market in itself is growing with the increase in
population. On the other hand, Dairy products like Milk, buttermilk, cheese, lassi, amul kool
etc have a lot of direct and indirect competition in their niche. However, when compared
with the same type of product, then Amul has a high market share. Thus, these products are
stars for Amul.
Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Amul – Like any FMCG
company, Amul concentrates on breaking the bulk. It supplies in huge amounts to its C&F,
who is required to have the right arrangements to store Amul products in bulk. This C&F
then transfers the products to distributors who in turn give it to retailers. Furthermore,
Amul has a direct sale team too which sells to modern retail. Besides this, the company has
exclusive Amul stores which sell all products of Amul brand. Thus, in the marketing strategy
of Amul, distribution is another strength of the brand.
Brand equity in the Marketing strategy of Amul – Because of the excellent products,
the top of the mind positioning, the fantastic distribution and supply chain channels and
finally the point of purchase branding and advertising of the Amul girl, Amul finds itself in a
very strong position where its brand equity is concerned. Amul brand is worth $3.2 billion
as per the 2013 brand equity report. Furthermore, most analysts say that Amul would have
touched the $4 billion mark, but the dropping value of the rupee is what caused the
difference.
Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Amul – Amul has some good
competitors who have entered the market in the last decade and growing strong steadily.
Most of these ice creams entered regionally but then held on to the regional market share.
Thus, even though individually these brands might not be a worthy adversary, combined
and with their total net aggregate, all of them together are giving a very tough competition to
Amul. Some of these competitors are Kwality walls, Vadilal, Havmore, Dinshaws, Arun Ice
cream, Baskin Robbins, London dairy and others. Many of these ice cream products have
their own niche or geographic targets. Arun ice cream is strong in the south whereas havmor
and Vadilal are strong in the west. Besides these organized players, there are many
unorganised local players who also give competition to Amul by having their own outlets
and their own variants of ice cream. However, the competition in Butter and Cheese and
other dairy products is far lesser.
Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Amul – The FMCG market is highly
competitive in nature and is known to have a combination of organized players as well as
unorganized players. Similarly, in FMCG, direct competition is equally important as indirect
competition. For example – During winters, ice cream and cold milk products will not sell,
whereas butter and cheese will sell equally well. But on the other hand, during summers the
demand of ice cream shoots up so much so that companies are not able to meet demands.
Thus, when we analyse the market of Amul, in some cases Amul is the clear market leader,
whereas in other products it is a competitor in the market.
Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of Amul – The typical customers of
Amul belong to the Sec B and Sec C segment wherein they are either middle class or lower
class. Amul in general uses mass marketing and therefore it targets these 2 classes majorly.
The high end customers are more likely to prefer a Naturals, a Baskin robbins, or any other
such brand which meets their taste and status.
This completes the analysis of the marketing strategy of Amul. What do you think of the
Amul brand and why do you think it is the market leader?

[Link]

Amul Relief Trust

A devastating earthquake (Richter scale – 7.9) hit Gujarat on 26th January 2001. The epicenter of the
quake was located in Kutch district. It caused death of thousands of people, tens of thousands were
injured, hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless and damage of billions of Rupees was done.

GCMMF formed a specific organization named "Amul Relief Trust" (ART) under the Chairmanship of Dr.
V. Kurien in 2001 with a donation of Rs. 50 Millions for reconstruction of the school buildings damaged in
the 2001 earthquake in the Kutch area.

The Trust reconstructed 6 schools damaged by the above earthquake at a cost of Rs. 41.1 millions in
Kutch area. Four of these schools started re-functioning from the last two academic sessions and the other
two schools from the current session.

A school reconstructed by Amul Relief Trust in the earthquake affected Ratadia Village in
Mundra Taluka of Gujarat
GREEN GUJARAT TREE PLANTATION CAMPAIGN BY MILK PRODUCERS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES

Amul Coops plant more than 592.1 lakhs trees

Milk Producer members of Gujarat Dairy Cooperatives- better known as AMUL have been celebrating the nation's
Independence Day in a novel manner by planting lakhs of saplings across Gujarat and have taken up an ambitious
plan to save the environment by planting trees, making India green and thereby reducing the effects of global
warming. The milk producers of Gujarat Dairy Cooperatives are conducting mass tree plantation drive every year
on Independence Day for last nine years. In last nine years (2007 to 2015) the milk producers have planted
around 592.1 lakhs trees). The most striking feature of these entire programmes was that it has been initiated by
milk producer members of the dairy cooperatives. The unique fact about the programme was that the milk
producer members took up the oath to protect tree saplings till it survives and grows into tree.

Over the years, due to intensive agriculture and dairying various natural resources are getting consumed at faster
pace in Gujarat state of India. The state level apex body of dairy farmers in Gujarat gave a serious thought in this
direction and discovered a novel idea for giving back to nature. The idea was "one member one tree" plantation
on our 60th Independence day - 15th August [Link] put this idea in to the practice a design team constituting of
representatives of member unions were formed. The team accepted the idea by heart and immediately decided to
spread it among farmer members of village dairy cooperative societies. Then the idea was communicated to
farmer members and they all welcomed it and enthusiastically agreed to implement the idea.

For smooth implementation of the idea, the design team chalked out the road map for various activities.
Execution teams were formed at district union level to give final shape and put the plan in action. Village level
coordinators were identified and they were trained to streamline activity of tree plantation. Various awareness
materials were prepared. Through various communication media farmer members were made aware of benefits of
tree plantation and tree plantation activity schedule.

The entire plantation activity was coordinated at all the three tiers of Anand pattern - at village, district and state
level dairy cooperatives. On 15th August, 2007, after the flag hoisting ceremony, each member took an oath to
plant saplings and ensure that they grew in to trees. Then individually they planted sapling on their own at their
identified locations like their farm, near their home, on Farm bunds, etc. They have taken necessary care to
ensure that this sapling survives and they also reported regarding the survival to village level coordinator and
district milk unions after five months. In this way, 18.9 lakh trees were planted on 15th August 2007. This was
just the beginning. Henceforth, the Village Dairy Cooperative Societies of Gujarat as a mark of respect for our
nation decided to conduct such event on every Independence Day and accepted 15th August (Independence Day)
as a "Green Revolution Day by Afforestation to Protect Mother Earth from Pollution, Climate change
and Global Warming"..

But all this required immaculate planning and execution. An action plan of tree plantation programme was drawn
up months back in advance. After the identification of the chief coordinator for each district milk union, the
organization of a task force for the programme was put in place. Roles and responsibilities were assigned to each
member and area of operation allocated. After preparing the overall action plan, each union issued a circular to
the Dairy Cooperative Societies regarding the programme and arranged meetings with the societies covered. At
the village level, coordinators were identified in respect of the villages to be covered and the number of saplings
required. Along with logistical arrangements direct contact was established with different agencies for receipt of
saplings. Pointwise methodology for implementation of tree plantation programme on such a mass scale is as
following.

Point wise Methodology of execution of programme is as following:

1. Member Unions were informed about the programme and channels of procurement of saplings, almost six month before to
scheduled date of programme.
2. Continuous follow up were taken from the member unions about the status of activities planned for the programme.
3. A meeting on tree plantation programme was held at GCMMF Ltd., Anand almost a month ago in which status of action plan
was each Member Union was discussed at length.
 4. Milk Unions identified the coordinator for the programme and organized a task force for the successful implementation of the
programme. The coordinator at Milk Union level chalked out overall action plan for the programme and assigned roles and
responsibilities and area of operation to each member of task force.
5. Milk Unions (MUs) issued circular to their respective VDCSs (Village Dairy Cooperative Societies) mentioning the entire activity
and procedure planned for the celebration of the programme. In circular details for milk producer members to make necessary
preparations like deciding the place, digging the pit, taking care of saplings etc. well in advance were also provided. The
circular was placed on notice board of VDCSs.
6. MUs task force members contacted & communicated about the concept to VDCS and identified the village level coordinator and
assigned them roles and responsibilities.
7. MUs Coordinator properly explored and communicated the saplings acquiring sources/nursery details to VDCSs. They also
ensured that saplings reach the VDCSs before 3 days.
8. A press note was prepared by the coordinator of the programme at MU level and which were given in the newspapers on a day
before tree plantation to boost morale of producer members and mentally prepare them for the execution of programme on
next day.
9. At time of handing over the saplings to members from VDCS, the producer members took oath to protect the saplings and
accepted the responsibility for successfully growing the sapling into tree.
10. On 15th August, after the milk collection process, at a predecided time sirens at VDCSs were sounded or other means like
beating Thali/utensil, loudspeaker etc. were used to facilitate the gathering producer members in time at predecided place in
the village for celebration of Independence Day in VDCS premises, common plot, school etc. After flag hoisting ceremony, the
tree plantation activity was executed by the producer members.
11. In many villages the milk producer members planted the trees after performing the Puja (worship) of saplings before planting
them.
12. To add fervour and enthusiasm in the programme at many places the Chairman, Managing Director and Board of Directors of
Member Unions participated in the programme.
13. Next day after the programme on a post programme press note was prepared giving details of the programme celebrations
along with photographs. Similar such notes were published in house magazines/ newsletters.
14. After the completion of the programme the MU's were asked to submit the report on tree plantation activity.
15. MUs conducted survey after 5 months to find out the survival rate of sapling under the programme.
First tree plantation programme (15th August, 2007) was carried out on "one member, One tree" basis. Second
tree plantation programme (15th August, 2008) in which around 52.74 lakhs tree were planted was conducted on
"one member three tree" basis.

In year 2009 and in year 2010, in mass tree plantation programme around 84.24 and 83.5 lakhs tree saplings
were planted respectively. The programme was conducted on "One member, Five tree" basis. Further, this
year 2011 around 72.6 lakhs trees were planted, the programme was carried out as per the same process and
procedures followed in previous year.

There from, in last nine years, milk producers of GCMMF planted around 592.1 lakhs tree saplings in
28 districts of Gujarat. By doing so, milk producers of Gujarat Dairy Cooperatives have shown their
concern, awareness and commitment for betterment of environment. Yearwise details of tree plantation
and survival of tree saplings planted is as under.

Year of tree No. of trees (in No. of trees Survived (in

Survival percentage
plantation lakhs) lakhs)

2007 19 11 58

2008 53 26 49

2009 84 38 45

2010 84 39 47

2011 73 34 47
2012 57 26 45

2013 72 34 47

2014 77 36 46

2015 74 34 46

Total 592 278 47