Bengaluru: Women take centre stage at Southern Dairy Summit

Amidst loud applause from a packed auditorium, five women from the five south Indian states were awarded the ‘Best Women Dairy Farmer Award’ on Saturday in Bengaluru during the third day of the Southern Dairy Summit.

Organised by the Indian Dairy Association (IDA) at the NIMHANS convention centre, the event was an annual celebration of cooperation among dairy organisations with the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture, K Venkatesh, as the chief guest.

The five women felicitated for their outstanding work in the dairy sector included Mangalamma from Karnataka, Vidhu Rajeev from Kerala and Lakshadweep, Pudhaari Gangavva from Telangana, Naveena Kumari from Andhra Pradesh and Selvanayaki from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Even though the auditorium and stage were packed with males most agreed when K S Mani, Chairman, Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), MILMA asserted that there is no dairy industry without women. “According to an approximation, 70 per cent of the dairy industry nationwide is run by women. Men may go ahead to collect money but women are the backbone of the industry,” he stated.

The awardees received a Rs 20,000 cash prize, each.

Scientific methods

As dairy production has grown it has gradually turned to scientific methods for improved quantity and quality. Vidhu Rajeev hailing from the Kottayam district, poured over 1,04,000 litre milk in 2024 and shared that she has installed big exhaust fans to keep the cows cool.

“We have also installed sprinklers to regulate temperatures. The feeding and milking of cattle has also been automated to avoid manual works which has also increased the production,” she added.

However, many continue to rely on manual methods for maintaining cattle. Pudhaari Gangavva from Jagityella rural district, Telangana said that she continues to milk her Jersey cows, brought from Haryana, manually and has poured over 14000 litre milk in the previous year.

Hailing from the Tirupur district, another awardee Selvanayaki also shared that she continues to use manual ways to maintain her 20 cows while expressing happiness over the prize money which she aims to use to grow her farm. She has been involved in the dairy industry for the past 26 years.

From Karnataka, Mangalamma from Mandya district was felicitated for her outstanding work. With over 40 milking cattle she not only poured over one lakh litre of milk in 2024 but has created employment for three other families.