Chennai, Sept. 15 -- Raj Kumar's family, from Poongunam village, in Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu, has been in dairy farming ever since he can remember. And the family didn't make much profit for the longest time. They still kept 13 cows which together yielded just eight litres of milk a day. The cows were fed straws that came from their 10-acre paddy farm. Emotional attachment to the cows, and the cash flow that selling the milk to the local co-operative generated, kept the family going.

In March 2024, things changed. Kumar, 37 years old, enrolled with Akshayakalpa Farm & Foods, an organic dairy business to supply milk. After some handholding from the company, his herd and feed management practices improved dramatically. Today, he...