Development of Women Through Dairy Cooperatives: A Study in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka

Dairy farming offers an important outlet for women's participation in economic activities. Tending and cleaning animals and their sheds, cutting grass and preparing fodder are some of the activities carried out in such cooperatives. An attempt to inject professionalism, as well as, to provide first lessons in women's empowerment has been made by Support to Training and Employment Programme (STEP) introduced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The present study shows that while dairy cooperatives in Karnataka have performed better compared to their counterpart in Andhra, the divergence is more marked in the case of cooperatives benefiting from STEP. This is true in regard to generation of output like supply of milk, value of milk poured everyday and supply of inputs like fodder, cow dung and grass also. Lastly the study shows that STEP helps in improving a non-quantifiable variable namely women's empowerment. Autonomy in decision making increases at both home and professional fronts due to this special training.