Sustainability in Action
Livestock Development
Although 70% of India's rural population owns cattle, milk yields are abysmally low due to poor quality stock. By enabling families to upgrade to high-yield livestock and form co-operatives to market their milk, ITC turns a dormant family resource into an easily adoptable and dynamic rural enterprise.
Higher milk productivity
In collaboration with BAIF Institute for Rural Development, a national NGO specialising in livestock development, ITC focuses on small and landless farmers, assisting them to genetically upgrade their cattle through artificial insemination with semen from superior strains such as Jersey and Holstein-Friesian for cows, and Murrah for buffaloes. ITC trains and equips technicians to provide an integrated package consisting of artificial insemination, cattle health and nutrition, pregnancy and post-natal services right at the farmer's doorstep.
Crossbred livestock outputs are 7-9 times higher than current yields - generating income to invest further in dairy farming or other avenues of income or savings.
New marketing linkages
Door-to-door collection of milk by marketing co-operatives, fostered by ITC with seed capital, channels the farm family's domestic milk production to large dairies, connecting farmers to the formal milk market.
