India’s agricultural sector highlights a sharp income divide between dairy and vegetable farmers. Dairy farmers working with cooperatives like Amul earn 80-85% of the final consumer price, while vegetable farmers often receive only 30-40%. Amul’s cooperative structure eliminates middlemen, ensures transparent pricing, and offers timely payments. With over 3.6 million members, it provides veterinary services and other inputs, helping farmers stabilize incomes and plan production efficiently.
In contrast, vegetable farmers face unpredictable price fluctuations, perishability issues, and fragmented markets. With poor cold storage and reliance on mandis controlled by intermediaries, they often earn only a fraction of what urban consumers pay. For example, tomatoes sold at ₹60-80 per kg in cities might fetch farmers only ₹15-25 per kg during peak harvest seasons. The lack of bargaining power leaves them vulnerable to price crashes, forcing many farmers to shift to dairy farming for more stable returns.
This shift, however, threatens agricultural diversity and food security. A heavy focus on dairy could reduce the production of essential crops, making India dependent on imports. To address these challenges, strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) could replicate Amul’s cooperative success in vegetable markets. Developing cold storage infrastructure, direct-to-consumer platforms, and value-added production (like sauces and frozen vegetables) could increase farmer margins and reduce waste.
Introducing minimum support prices (MSP) for key vegetables could further shield farmers from price volatility. Cooperative models like Amul demonstrate the power of collective action in improving farmer incomes, and expanding similar frameworks to other agricultural sectors can build a more equitable and sustainable future for Indian agriculture.
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