Success and Failure of Crossbred Cows in India: A Place-Based Approach to Rural Development

Abstract

Although India's cooperative dairying program is lauded as a model of successful rural development, lack of uniformity in replication of the program across rural India has raised questions about the meanings of success. Differences between dairy cooperatives become especially apparent when crossbred cows are considered, so that the promotion of crossbreds by dairy development agencies has not always resulted in their actual adoption by farmers. This article seeks to explain the mixed reception accorded to crossbred cows by focusing on the link between development and place. By discussing both official discourses and local perspectives, the article enables two kinds of understanding of dairy development. First, the rise and fall of support for crossbred cows within India's national plans suggest that contrasts between official policies and local practices of dairying need to be attentive to the dynamics of both discourses and places. Second, the comparison between two villages—one utilizing crossbred cows and the other water buffaloes as principal dairy animals—shows that evaluations of success or failure cannot be made simply on the basis of adoption or rejection of crossbred cows but requires engagement with place-specific agricultural economies and social relations. Given the liberalization of India's dairy sector, official discourses and material experiences of cooperative dairying become significant for ascertaining future possibilities for small-scale farming and equitable economic growth in rural India.