Modernizing Dairy Farming in India
Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) has partnered with ISAP India Foundation to modernize dairy farming in the water-scarce region of Antargaon in Wardha District, Maharashtra.
The initiative—"Economic and Social Development of Indian Village Through Technology-Enabled Dairy Farming"—also involved collaboration with technology implementation partner eVerse.AI to implement the corporate social responsibility (CSR) project.
India has the world's largest bovine population and is a leader in milk production. However, it faces challenges such as low milk-yield per animal and insufficient quality of milk products. The decentralized structure of dairy farming in India and limited awareness about scientific veterinary practices among rural farmers contributes to these issues.
By partnering with ISAP India Foundation—a not-for-profit agency engaged in leading national-level livelihood promotion and agriculture marketing consultancy—Rockwell aims to improve livelihoods of dairy farmers in one of the most water-scarce areas of India by using innovative products and services that leverage digital technologies for livestock development through scientifically-proven veterinary practices.
The initiative provides a suite of services to dairy farmers, including:
- Supplying Internet of Things (IoT) enabled collar devices for tracking vital health parameters of dairy animals;
- Providing mobile phone-based alerts and advice to farmers from veterinary experts;
- Use of muzzle-based biometric identification system to provide digital identity to animals along with 12-digit Pashu Aadhar;
- Use of eVerse.AI’s newly launched CowGPT platform to provide accurate insights and advisory to dairy farmers about animal health, ration balancing advisory services, fodder development activities, supply of quality animal feed, village level animal health services, dairy farming extension programs (training, demos, expert visits), market integration activities for milk sale, and the creation of additional revenue sources for families of dairy farmers utilizing animal waste products.
The project, which began in May 2023, has already yielded promising results. In a recent field visit to Antargaon, progress was shared with local dairy farmers through an interactive session. Farmers expressed positive feedback, citing a 15-20% increase in milk production within the last six months. Milk quality has also improved, helping them to achieve higher prices and increasing household income.
“We are thrilled that our CSR project at Antargaon, Maharashtra, is already showing early signs of success and providing tangible benefits to local farmers, and augmenting their incomes,” said Dilip Sawhney, managing director, Rockwell Automation India. “We are confident that this project will continue to help the people of Antargaon to benefit from the technology-enabled scientific management of the health and reproductive cycles of their farm animals. Projects like this will eventually lead to improved incomes and better quality of life in rural communities throughout India.”
Learn more about other Rockwell Automation corporate social responsibility efforts in the company’s 2023 Sustainability Report.
