Piston Roy Kharbteng is the ‘milkman of East Khasi Hills’ and can become a pioneer in dairy farming in Meghalaya. The 66-year-old man from Umlyngka in Upper Shillong is reluctant to talk about his achievement and wants people to witness the steadily spreading white revolution themselves.
“I have done nothing other than teaching discipline to the dairy farmers,” says Kharbteng as he arranges the chairs on the sunny portion of the lawn early one winter morning. As one of his employees, Ibanpynhun, serves tea made of pure cow milk, cajoling for information continues to which the man on a mission only nods with a hint of smile on his face. “Wait and watch,” the sparkle in his eyes says.
It was 7am and the milk collection truck has just arrived. But it is not yet time for farmers to come.
The office of the Umlyngka Primary Milk Producers Cooperative Society is in the compound of Kharbteng’s house. He started the society in 1989 with two cows. There were only two or three members and had a production of only 20 litres a day. It was registered a year after with an aim to make dairy business a serious affair in the district as well as empower local farmers.
Now, the society counts 113 farmers on its member list and supplies 4,000 litres of milk per day to the Mawiong dairy plant. The society has over 1,300 cows, most of which are the Dutch breed of Holstein Freisiar, and earns profit of around Rs 90,000 a month by selling milk to the dairy plant at Rs 42 a litre. Kharbteng has 11 cows, both Holstein Freisiar and hybrids.
“It took years of hard work and dedication to achieve what we have,” Kharbteng starts speaking as farmers arrive with their cans.
Dairy farming in the state is a new venture compared to other parts of the country. “People in the village, especially the families from Bihar, had cows but nothing was organised. The cooperative brought together these small-time farmers and trained them in organised dairy business. Above all, it taught them discipline,” says the Verghese Kurien of East Khasi Hills as he points to the rows of 10 and 20-litre cans in front of his gate.
The discipline that Kharbteng has been harping on is apparent. There is no cacophony despite the huge gathering of members and buyers. The clinging of the cans and murmurs are the only sound that is disturbing the quietness. By 9am, most of the farmers have arrived because the milk truck leaves at 10am.
The cooperative, before sending the milk, runs a preliminary test. Every farmer has to bring sample of the milk in a small plastic vial to the office that runs from a humble room with tin roof. Ibanpynhun is ready with the milk analysing machines and tests each sample meticulously jotting down details of water and solid particles content and amount of milk supplied against each name. Any anomaly in reading and the milk is rejected, says the soft-spoken lady at the counter.
Kharbteng’s predilection for perfection is reflected in the way the cooperative runs. He shows a bunch of exercise books which have the records of farmers, their earnings, daily and monthly incomes of the society, advance payments and many such statistics. A small worn out notebook that Kharbteng keeps in his pocket is the main accounts book and has all details of individual checks and balances.
Sanjoit Lyngdoh, who is associated with the society for the last 24 years, says he has 18 cows supplying 100 litres of milk. The executive member of the society says ‘Bah’, as he refers to Kharbteng, has helped many like him to augment capacity over the years and realise the profit and market potential of dairy farming.
The society provides loans to farmers without charging interest amount. This has helped small-time farmers to gradually expand business. Medicines and high-quality fodder are also sold by the society.
Kharbteng, who started his career as a contractor, had visited Anand in the western state of Gujarat in 1996 to learn the nuances of running a cooperative. It is the village from where India’s milk revolution started in the sixties under the leadership of Verghese Kurien. The plant there was an inspiration for the man from Khasi Hills who was determined to bring about a change in the way dairy farming is done in his state.
“Initially, the society functioned from my old house nearby and we shifted to this place recently. There was no machine for milk testing and two years ago we got the analyser,” says Kharbteng as he shows around the office, a part of which is stacked with recently purchased modern milking machines and medicines for the animals.
“These machines are new and yet to be distributed but soon we will make the whole process systematic and less manual,” he adds.
Last year, a team of 15 from the society visited the Eastern Regional Station of National Dairy Research Institute in Kalyani, West Bengal. The trip was another eye opener for the members who witnessed latest technology in dairy farming.
Kharbteng says he is planning to introduce new technology next year and digitalise all records. “Computers have already been purchased. We will get latest analysers soon,” he starts walking towards his residence, a modest RCC building, intending to give a glimpse of his dream.
The youths in the village who are specialising in their own subjects instead of being part of the society are also extending help in their capacity. Lyngdoh’s son, who is studying computer science, will help the society on the digital platform, informs the proud father. Kharbteng’s sons too help their father in running the cooperative.
A group of 34 farmers from West Jaintia Hills recently visited the Umlyngka society for training. An impressed Paul D Passah, who was part of the delegation, says all the farmers of the society have their cow sheds and have access to technology.
“Here in West Jaintia Hills, we will provide cow sheds under the MGNREGA scheme. The Basin (Meghalaya Basin Development Authority) is also helping us,” says Passah, district programme manager of MGNREGA. The district has one dairy farmers’ society in Thadlaskein block, he adds.
Initially, the cooperative would buy milk from farmers to sell it to the government chilling plant in Mawiong through the Veterinary Department. But after the government faltered in payments for three years between 2003 and 2006, the co-operative decided to find a market elsewhere. “Those were difficult years when I had to struggle to keep members together. In 2006, our dues were cleared and the society paid back to the farmers,” says Kharbteng.
Kharbteng shows no indolence despite his age and is always springing with energy. He is monitoring everything, from sampling to pouring, and also catering to buyers, some of them regulars, from Laitkor, Nongrah and other parts of East Khasi Hills. Every penny is added to Kharbteng’s notebook. Honesty and transparency, besides discipline, are also among his virtues.
But when pointed out, the milkman with a vision says, “Nothing here is mine. It is the society’s and the farmers’. I have seen them grow and that is more than I can ask for.”
Kurien, the man with the ‘billion litre’ idea, must have thought the same way when he saw a small village flourish with Amul.
Kharbteng’s countenance shows a hint of similarity with that of the Amul man.
Many among the farmers come in their own vehicles and a large section of them are educated youth. With jobs getting scarce in the state, dairy farming in this East Khasi Hills village has opened up a new way of livelihood.
Darisha Kharbhoi, the 25-year-old farmer, is among the many women members of the society. She has six milch cows and looks after them herself. Her mother and sister too help her. Besides dairy farming, Darisha is also pursuing her graduation from an open university. She says with medicines readily available at the office and high quality fodder supplied by the society production has improved. She supplies around 25 litres every day.
As the truck gets ready to leave with the day’s collection, Kharbteng points at a young man standing with his empty cans with a group of villagers and beckons him to come.
Donyshar L Nonglait is a 33-year-old Commerce graduate and has joined the cooperative recently and supplies 22 litres of milk per day. He says though dairy farming is hard work, the society is a better option than staying unemployed. “With expansion plans we hope to see better business in the future,” says the young farmer.
There are families from the northern state of Bihar at Umlyngka who are among the oldest settlers in the village. Kharbteng, who is also the chairman of East Khasi Hills District Cooperative Milk Union Ltd, says since these families are expert in rearing cattle, “we learn a lot from them”.
Sahdaon Ray, who is originally from Hajipur in Bihar’s Vaishali district, says people from Bihar form 30 per cent of the population here and most of them owned cows from the beginning. “My family has always reared cows and sold milk in the local market but with the society, earnings have risen over the years,” he adds. The Ray family owns around 12 cows and supplies close to 50 litres of milk a day.
Livestock ownership in the state is more evenly distributed with landless labourers and around 2 lakh milch cows and buffaloes are spread over 5,000 villages, says the Meghalaya government website. It further states that in Meghalaya, the total milk production has gone up from 42,000 tonne in 1972-74 to 66,000 tonne at the end of the Ninth Plan period (1997-2002). As per the recent survey done by the Veterinary Department, production in 2011-12 was 79.67 thousand tonne and in 2015-16 it was 83.92 thousand tonne.
The state government feels dairy farming is the fastest growing sector and will open up opportunities for ancillaries. In June, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma distributed Holstein Freisiar among five clusters of dairy farmers in South West Garo Hills.
However, Kharbteng informs that no such help has come their way. “There is no help from the government and we do everything all by ourselves,” concedes RP Iangjuh, Kharbteng’s friend and partner.
The union — which has 10 cooperatives under them including the Umlyngka society, the biggest in the district — has proposed to take over the Mawiong dairy plant from the government and augment the existing 10,000 litre capacity to 40,000. “The process of handing over the plant to the union is under process and the MoU is yet to be signed. However, infrastructure development has started,” says Lon Steady Shangpliang, the managing director of the union.
In Umlyngka, Kharbteng says from next year, he is planning to introduce milk tankers.
“The union gets fund from the Centre. The state government will give the union the existing infrastructure and land (at Mawiong plant) and it will put these to use. The latter can upgrade or add to the existing infrastructure for which it will be a 90:10 funding by the Centre and the union,” Shangpliang adds.
The union has three years’ time frame to augment milk production but Shangpliang says the members want to implement it before time. “It all depends on how we work towards achieving the target… However, none of us want to hype the issue. We want to first reach our destination and publicity can follow,” says Shangpliang.
A hesitant Kharbteng too is of the same opinion and repeatedly requests not to publicise his work or the society’s expansion.
“But it is appreciation and not publicity that has finally given shape to the report,” he is informed. Though his facial muscles relax his eyes remain suspicious.
The union has faith in its farmers and their capabilities and hence is planning to expand beyond East Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi. It will form a society in Tura and also work with farmers in Jaintia Hills, assisting them with technology.
An Anand-like white revolution will take some time considering the market for Meghalaya dairy sector. Also, it lacks state-of-the-art processing units and needs a substantial infrastructure boost.
Nonetheless, Kharbteng and his team are doing a yeoman service in making the “revolution” a success. Passah says the Umlyngka society is an “inspiration” for others in the state.
~ NM