Study of social networks in the Indian milk production based on the cooperative model

Rashmi

Exchange student, MBA, Fall-2012, HHL Leipzig

Study of social networks in the Indian milk production based on the cooperative model

Background: Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative, based in the state of Gujarat. Formed in 1946, it is a brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 3.03 million milk producers in Gujarat. Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and milk products. In the process, Amul became the largest food brand in India and has also ventured into markets overseas.

               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul

By definition itself, a cooperative is a social enterprise (that balances two main goals of satisfying its members’ needs and pursuing profit and sustainability)

“.. a cooperative is an association of  women and men who come together to form a jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprise where generating a profit is only part of the story. Cooperatives put people before profit. They also help their members achieve their shared social, cultural and economic aspirations… “

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/getinvolved/images/WFD2012_leaflet_en_low.pdf

Since the cooperative model of production is essentially based on social networks, its performance can be hypothesized to be influenced by the working of this network.

The successful Amul model can be replicated for more dairy output in India. Replicating such a model would entail, among other things, a close study of the dynamics of the social networking that went into the success of that social initiative.

Goal: To explore how social networks affect the disbursement of information (such as points of sale, sources of credit, capital availability, labour exchanges among villagers, livestock management, methods of production, best farming practices, updates about new dairy technology etc.) & quantity of output in joint production processes such as cooperative dairy farming. I set my model around the rural Indian dairy cooperatives, where diffusion of information is also influenced by the social status of the farmer. In order for the farmers to make more informed decisions so as to take advantage of the market opportunities & latest changes in production systems, a good understanding of the rural social network will help in identifying the opinion leaders, influencers, resourceful persons etc. in the community.

Attributes:

Age of the farmer

Education

Experience in dairy farming

Community membership (how long has the farmer been a part of the social network of the dairy farmers of his rural community; in years)

Income

Number of livestock

Size of family

Network data:

Number of times the farmer seeked advice from the other farmers respectively

Number of times he was asked for advice by other farmers respectively

Information sources (Family members/ Govt. officers/ Govt. appointed vets/ suppliers of dairy feed/ private buyers/ corporate buyers/ Television/ Radio/ Internet/ Published material)

The above data is fairly easy to obtain through an elementary survey.

Important Network Measures:

Eigen vector- Identifying the farmers connected to opinion leaders, village heads-men, senior members of their respective castes, school headmasters (approached by farmer-folk for informal scientific advice) etc. Through these farmers, information can be driven to the influential persons of the community.

Betweenness: Once we realize that there are certain ‘brokers’ who need to be trespassed in order to reach an influential person, these ‘brokers’ can be given ‘tutorials’ so as to make them understand the benefit of spreading particular information (e.g. a localized demand for milk, introduction of new breed etc.). Taking such a ‘broker’ onto our side will ease the access to influential community members.

Extension: If we also include the local university researchers, research bodies, dairy engineers, government appointed veterinarians, NGO volunteers into our network analysis, we can additionally assess the extent to which these (government/NGO) initiatives impact the workings of the social network. If at all the influence is significant, the direction, route, strength etc. of it can be measured; e.g. how large is the distance which the information disbursed by these agents needs to travel; are these agents in contact with the correctly networked farmers etc.