Amul's Pashudhan is opening an alternative business for farmers, eBay style

In the "Pashudhan" tool of Amul's Milk Producers' app, the cattle rearers can upload pictures of their cattle and enter details like the day's milk yield and breed in order to sell them

Amul's Milk Producers' App, a free application for dairy producers of Amul, is fast gaining traction. The app facilitates buying and selling of cattle online by entering details like the location, price, productivity, breed, age and photo or video.

The app was launched two months ago by Amul for its members. Since then, posts of over 900 cattle for sale have been uploaded on it. Orders worth Rs 5 crore have already been placed via the app, according to a report by Businessline (BL).

"As and when the farmers get to know about it, they start using this platform. It is a wonderful tool for transparent cattle trade, which was earlier completely dependent on references and commission agents. This directly connects the buyer and seller, thereby providing transparency and savings on commission," Shamalbhai Patel, chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand, told BL.

The price being sought for the cattle ranges from Rs 32,000 to Rs 200,000, as per the BL report.

How does the app work?

In the "Pashudhan" tool of the app, the cattle rearers can upload pictures of their cattle and enter details like the day's milk yield and breed in order to sell them. The farmers will receive replies from potential buyers on the post or contact the seller.

On the other hand, interested buyers can go to the app and set the filters like distance, breed, price, yield etc. They will get a list of cattle on sale in nearby areas. They can then negotiate the prices with the seller.

Before the launch, the trials of Pashudhan were carried out by teams in Banaskantha Banas Dairy, Mehsana's Dudhsagar Dairy, Anand's Amul Dairy, and Godhra's Panchamrut Dairy.

The app is crucial for Gujarat as it has over 36 lakh milk producers owning around 25 lakh indigenous cows, 35 lakh hybrid cows and over 70 lakh buffaloes.

In future, the app may also facilitate creating an alternate business for farmers who are not interested in dairying the cattle but only buying and selling them.