July 21, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1424

There is never any shortage of dying or dead projects, neither of plans for alleviating poverty. But cases of resurrection are a few. Rural development is another fad with both public and private sectors. However, whatever progress takes place in villages is mostly, if not wholly the result of the sweat and toil of growers and breeders.

It is known as well as realized that poverty is rampant in rural areas ; in Punjab, one comes across painful evidence of struggle for survival at every turn. There is little, if any reprieve and there are plenty of plans for involving the poor in efforts for their betterment but nowhere are they to be seen in concrete form.

An organization working in this circle of callousness and unconcern and achieving results is little short of a miracle but Idara-i-Kisan (IK), a farmer’s organization registered under the Societies Act of 1860 has broken the shackles; it is like a spring of fresh and cool water in a desert.

IK is reviving three dead and virtually buried milk plants of the public sector; they had not functioned for years and had been abandoned as lost bargains. They now also providing outlet for milk produce for breeders in six districts of Punjab.

The management of the IK hopes to replicate its work in Sindh also where it last year took over the Karachi Milk plant that, according to experts, ‘did not have even nut and bolts in place’. But this is no different from the state of Lahore and Islamabad Milk plants when they were placed under the IK’s charge.

It all started with the establishment of the IK under a bilateral agreement between Pakistan and Germany in 1983 aimed at ‘increasing the income of small landless livestock breeders in the irrigated Punjab through improvements in livestock production.’ Pattoki Livestock Production Project was designed under the agreement and Livestock and Dairy Development Department of Punjab (LL@D) and German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) were assigned its implementation.

The first step was a survey to identify the needs of people in the livestock sector and assess productivity potential of animals. The project was successful but in Pakistan, such initiatives turn non- productive once funding ends. The IK was left with a sum of Rs30,000, a few people who had worked for the project and Pattoki Milk Plant, given to Punjab as part of grant by the German government. Everything pointed towards another well meaning undertaking proving a bubble that would start deflating once further funding became unavailable. But GTZ expert Grosse Herenthey, Secretary LLD Dr Zafar Altaf and the IK’s financial analyst Amir Bokhari had other ideas; they were determined to keep pursuing the ends of the project as envisaged in the agreement and according them permanence.

It was start from the scratch in 1990 but the IK had established its credentials by then and project managers had genuinely endeavoured to translate its objectives in to realities; they had earned the goodwill of the breeders of the area of operations by then. An important factor was offering an option to breeders against exploitative practices of ‘dodhis’, the common title given by villagers to middlemen of milk sector.

IK also attracted villagers with the competitive price it paid for milk, giving breeders a reliable market for their produce, free veterinary service, the organization’s help in improving quality of feed for animals and increasing their productivity, job opportunities in rural economy coming in the wake of IK’s activities, provision of health, education and income generating facilities to rural areas and creation of self- supporting organizations, that is, the breeders and small farmers having a say in their affairs through elected representatives who were answerable to them.

Our aim, says Amir Bokhari who later became General Manager of the IK and is currently its chief executive, has been to ensure the improvement of the quality of life of people in the areas of the IK’s operations and to provide a consistent and fair market to breeders. The fact that membership had increased from 1817 in 1982 to over 19,000 by mid- 2003 is evidence of IK’s achievements.

Membership fee is Rs25 with the condition that a member is required to provide a certain quantity of milk over a period of six months to become permanent member. Fat content of milk is tested in the presence of members and the quantity sold by a breeder is entered in his passbook; payment is made on a weekly basis. The current rate per liter is Rs11 for milk with six per cent fat; the rate is enhanced for higher fat content milk.

The IK actually pays Rs17 per liter, as there is a payment of Rs1.5 for milk handling, two rupees for development and another two rupees for investment in the community. All in all IK spends 80 percent of its turnover on breeders and the rest goes towards maintenance and management of plants, marketing and administrative expenses.

The important thing for breeders is a regular market and ensured payment while scales in dodhi’s calculation of quantity used to be tilted against the breeder, the price he paid was on the lower side and worst of all, he was not a customer for excess milk with the breeder. The only advantage he offered was advance payment but that shackled breeders and left them in no position to negotiate on price or precise measurement of quantity.

There are two sides of the IK’s work, social, including economic aspects of member’s lives and the professional side comprising running superannuated, discarded and non-functioning plants. IK has broken vast ground on both counts.

Starting from the small village of Halla in Kasur, it has expanded to another five districts, Okara, Sheikhupura, Sahiwal, Pakpattan and Bhalwal where it was covering 430 villages by end June; its coverage is on an expanding streak.

The society is run under a representative system. Farmers elect their representatives who regularly meet to take stock of issues, complaints and other aspects of their interest. An Executive Council formed by representatives oversees the functioning of the IK and a governing body presides over its affairs. From the starting point to the final line, farmers are involved at every step. That makes IK a completely participatory body.

In terms of statistics, those for the year 2002 speak for themselves: nearly 5,000 meetings of target group’s members, 1125 of village committees and over 2,700 of Health and Livestock (Women) units, were held during the year; needless to say, IK also concentrates on female segment of population with training for managing livestock and poultry, providing health, particularly population planning services and runs Mother and Child and Health and Technical Training centres and Health, Education and Adult Literacy schools. Their number keeps changing in accordance with the member’s requirements.

On the veterinary side, it provides artificial insemination services for breed improvement and handles veterinary cases. For instance, over 400,000 animals were vaccinated in 2002. IK workers say that members bring animals of relatives and fellow villagers whenever a campaign for vaccination is undertaken and IK treats them as a gesture of goodwill.

On the professional side, Lahore Milk Plant’s capacity of processing 45,000 liters a day has been increased to 300,000, that of Islamabad plant from 16,000 to 50,000 and of Pattoki from 15,000 to 80,000. Plants have been renovated/upgraded as per needs.

I have had occasion to visit the areas of the operations and talk to its workers, breeder members and villagers who have benefited from its presence through job opportunities and other openings. They look at it as a blessing and its impact can be concretely seen. Many villagers have added to their animal stock and regained pledged lands. The breeders have realized that higher fat content means better payment and that has acted as incentive for better maintenance of animals. The present operations of IK are however not the end of journey for the Amir Bokhari wants the system to be institutionalized so that it is completely taken over by farmers. That would be a major political development and one hopes that the locals have attained that level of awareness of their rights and needs where they can assume complete command of their social and economic affairs. Looking at the landscape, one feels that IK has done a wonderful job.