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. Key Words: agriculture, dairy animals, India, place, rural development.Pese a los elogios que se prodigan al programa cooperativo de lechería de la India, como modelo de desarrollo rural exitoso, la falta de su réplica uniforme en todo elámbito rural de aquel país genera interrogantes sobre cómo debiera entenderse eléxito. Las diferencias entre las cooperativas lecheras se hacen especialmente notorias cuando se trata de vacas mestizas, porque la promoción de esta clase de animales por las agencias de desarrollo del sector lechero no siempre produce adopciones reales por parte de los granjeros. En el artículo se pretende explicar la acogida mixta dispensada a las vacas cruzadas, con la atención centrada en el vínculo que hay entre desarrollo y lugar. Al discutir los discuros oficiales, lo mismo que las perspectivas locales, el artículo habilita dos maneras de pensar el desarrollo lechero. En primer término, el auge y caída de la preferencia por las vacas mestizas en los planes nacionales de la India, sugiere que los contrastes entre las políticas oficiales y las prácticas lecheras locales necesitan poner atención a las dinámicas tanto de los discursos como de los lugares. Y segundo, la comparación entre dos aldeas-una que utiliza vacas mestizas y la otra búfalos como sus principales animales lecheros-muestra que las evaluaciones deléxito o fracaso no pueden simplemente hacerse con base en la adopción o rechazo de vacas cruzadas, sino que requiere considerar las economías agrícolas y relaciones sociales especí...

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