An 18 member delegation from Indonesia comprising Dairy Co- operative leaders and officials of Govt. departments from West Java Province visited Amul Dairy and Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation last week. They had come to India to study and exchange experience in Dairy Co-operatives.

The Govt. of Indonesia has placed great emphasis on the dairy co- operative movement as a vehicle for its ambitious dairy development programme. There are problems to be addressed, however, including insufficient number of dairy cattle, inefficient management, low standards of hygiene and farms and inadequate nutrition for cattle and low consumption of milk by the population.

Experiences of Dairy Co-operatives and their members in managing their own dairy institutions and creation of famous brand names like Amul have prompted these leaders to visit GCMMF. Indonesian Dairy Co-operatives had taken into account the phenomenal progress of Dairy Co-operatives in India and have also recognized as India as the world’s largest producer of liquid milk. During their wide ranging discussions with Shri B. M. Vyas, Managing Director, GCMMF, they exchanged experiences in several sectors like institutional development, milk processing technology, professional competence, animal care and marketing techniques. The Amul model of co- operative development left them highly impressed.

The delegation also visited the state of the art Mother Dairy, Gandhinagar and Dudhsagar Dairy, Mehsana.