AHMEDABAD: In a big leap for gender empowerment through grassroots economics, Gujarat’s cooperative dairy model is emerging as a powerful engine of women-led growth.Women now make up 32% of the state’s 36 lakh dairy members, with their presence rapidly expanding across both production and governance.In a striking indicator of this transformation, women led milk societies have seen a 39% surge in daily milk collection, now touching 57 lakh litres per day.At the governance level, 82 women have taken director roles on the boards of various dairy unions in 2025 making up 25% of all board members and marking a decisive shift in representation.This momentum is mirrored in earnings: women run milk societies clocked a phenomenal 43% growth in annual income, pushing their collective revenue past Rs 9,000 crore. The overall rise 21% in the number of women’s dairy societies cements Gujarat’s model as a blueprint for cooperative driven women’s economic empowerment nationwide.In the last five years (2020–2025), women run dairy cooperatives in the state have jumped by 21%, growing from 3,764 to 4,562 societies.This shift is not just numeric, but transformational. Data from the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), released on International Cooperative Day, reveals that milk procurement by women run cooperatives surged by 39%, from 41 lakh litres per day in 2020 to 57 lakh litres per day in 2025. These women led units now contribute 26% of Gujarat’s total milk procurement.
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