Social Commitment Fuels Kerala’s Coop Sector’s Success: Experts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala’s cooperative sector, built on social commitment, inclusivity and technological integration, is a successful role model for the entire country, observed experts from leading cooperative entities here at a state-level seminar organised to mark the International Year of Cooperatives as declared by the United Nations.

Organised jointly by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), known by brand Milma, the deliberations at the seminar focussed on the key theme ‘Prosperity through cooperation.’

Top functionaries and experts from leading cooperative institutions in the state shared their experience and insights at the seminar on taking the movement forward as a vehicle for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Jayasujeesh J S, Deputy Director, Dairy Development Department, noted in his presentation that Primary Dairy Cooperative societies are crucial channels for the diffusion of essential technologies and financial inputs.

“By eliminating exploitative middlemen, the societies enable consistent growth in dairy sector’, said Jayasujeesh, and noted that number of milk co-operative societies registered in the state have increased from 150 to 3564 over the decades and average daily milk production per animal in Kerala now stood at 10.79 Kg, which is the second highest among the Indian states.

Jayasujeesh explained how dairy cooperatives form the backbone of economy. “Around 1.61 lakh dairy farmers contribute milk to Dairy Co-operative societies every day, out of this 40 per cent are women,” he noted.

Dairy sector contributes 26.44% of the total Gross State Value Added from Agriculture. Annually around Rs 2956 crore is being distributed as price of milk to dairy farmers through Dairy Co-operatives. 10.2 Lakhs man-days of employment generation is being created every year by Dairy Co-operative Sector, he noted.

Jayasujeesh said that Co-operatives act as a social catalyst by ensuring farmer welfare and long-term sustainability.

Kishor Kumar TK, COO of Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS), noted that the organisation has completed over 10000 projects already and gives employment to over 18000 workers.

Kishor explained how ULCCS’s model is based on worker centric policies and how the democratic nature of the institution gives predominance to worker’s participation in decision making process.

“We give training to upskill our workers to adapt to technological advancement in construction sector which made us to stay afloat during technologically transformative times,” he said.

UL Cyberpark, UL technology solutions, Kovalam craft village, Sargaalaya are some of the prestigious projects undertaken by ULCSS, Kishor added.

B Prameshwaran Pillai, Governing Body member of Kerala Bank, said the backbone of Kerala’s cooperative banking sector are primary agriculture credit societies (PACS), which account for 71% of deposits in Kerala bank.

Jiksy Raphael, Deputy General Manager of NABARD, said Kerala’s cooperative sector is a well-structured model based on social commitment. She said that strengthening of sector specific cooperatives, technological integration, social and financial inclusivity, research and extension services are the areas the state should focus to further strengthen the cooperative ecosystem.

P Shibu, Secretary, NS Cooperative Hospital, Kollam, credited State Government and Kerala State Co-operative Hospital Federation (KCHF) as instrumental for the growth of cooperative hospitals in the state. “Today, over 90 cooperative hospitals function in the state, and many of them boast of world class medical services and infrastructure at affordable expenses,” Shibu said in his presentation.

“Our aim is to provide the best medical services to common people at affordable rates,” he noted during his presentation titled ‘Healing through cooperation: a Model for healthcare in Kerala’.