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Three Phases of development
The scheme sought to establish milk producers' cooperatives in the
villages and make modern technology available to them. The broad
objectives are to increase milk production ("a flood of milk"), augment rural
incomes and transfer to milk producers the profits of milk marketing which are hitherto
enjoyed by well-to-do-middlemen.
 | Phase I of
Operation Flood was financed by the sale within India of skimmed
milk powder and butter oil gifted by the EC countries via the World Food Program.
As founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of India, Dr Kurien finalized the plans and negotiated the details of EEC
assistance. He looked after the administration of the scheme as founder-chairman of the
erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation, the project authority for Operation Flood. During its first phase, the project aimed at linking India's 18 best
milksheds with the milk markets of the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta
and Madras. |
| Phase II
of the project, implemented during 1981-85 raised this to some 136
milksheds linked to over 290 urban markets. The seed capital raised from the sale
of WFP/EEC gift products and World Bank loan had created, by end
1985, a self-sustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk
producers. Milk powder production went up from 22,000 tonnes in the pre project year to
1,40,000 tonnes in 1989, thanks to dairies set up under Operation Flood. The EEC
gifts thus helped to promote self-reliance. Direct marketing of milk by producers'
cooperatives resulting in the transfer of profits from milk contracts --increased by
several million liters per day. |
| Phase III
of Operation Flood (1985-1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to rapidly
build up the basic infrastructure required to procure and market more and more milk daily.
Facilities were created by the cooperatives to provide better veterinary first-aid health
care services to their producer members. |
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Far reaching
consequences
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The
year 1995-96 marked the termination of Operation Flood III,
funded by a World Bank loan, EEC food aid and internal resources
of NDDB. At the conclusion of Operation
Flood III, 72,744 DCSs in 170 milksheds of the country, having
a total membership of 93.14 lakh had been organized.
The targets set have either been effectively achieved or exceeded.
However, procurement targets could not be reached as private
agencies started procuring milk from the cooperative villages,
following the new delicensing policy under the Government's
program of economic liberalization. |
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The
conditions for long-term growth in procurement have been created.
An assured market and remunerative producer prices for raw milk,
technical input services including AI, balanced cattle feed
and emergency veterinary health services have all contributed
to sustained increases in milk production. Three state-of-the-art
dairies designed to produce quality products for both the domestic
and export markets have been commissioned. |
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While
the demand for milk was rising under Operation Flood the total
cattle population remained more or less static. If milk
production had to be increased
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The
buffalo and milk breeds of cattle had to be upgraded |
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Non-descript
cows had to be crossbred with exotic semen to increase
their milk production to make them more efficient converters
of feed. |
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With this objective in mind, thrust
was given to intensive research
and development 
in animal husbandry. Today, animal breeding is an integration
of three major areas, artificial insemination
and quantitative genetic techniques, embryo transfer and embryo
micro manipulation techniques and biotechnology and genetics engineering.
The optimal genetic improvement can be achieved by making use of
developments in each of these areas.
Operation Flood which started in 1970, concluded
its Third Phase in 1996. Let us look at what Operation Flood has
achieved in milk. We are not looking simply at the application of
science and technology, though both have played a role; we are not
looking simply at the creation of farmer-owned structures, though
such structures have been necessary to success. What we are looking
at is all of this, combined with the orchestration of all policies
and programs that affect production. Further, they ensure to the
extent possible, that these support mechanism strengthen efforts,
rather than stand as obstacles.
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Cost
reduction and technology management |
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modernization
of process and plant technology |
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interventions
for productivity increase |
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frontier
technologies like DNA vaccines and genetically engineered bovine
somatotropin,embryo transfer technology and in vitro
fertilization of oocytes |
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The
story of Operation Flood can be seen through three angles. One is
to consider what it did to the dairy industry. Another point of view
is from the eyes of the small farmer. it has revoultionized their
way of life. Operation Flood has also established a pattern of success
for other countries to follow.
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