Piston R. Kharbteng (or Bah Pis as he is lovingly known) is a happy man who is at peace with his cattle around and never tires of spending time with his animals. His first experience with keeping cattle came aboutwhen a friend of his ran into some financial trouble and needed help in selling off a few his animals to raise money Bah Pis was a construction worker at the time. The animals his friend offered included two dairy cows and two calves. Bah Pis felt sorry for his friend and decided to buy the cattle to help him out.
Initially, Bah Pis faced countless difficulties trying to look after the four cows as he was completely new to cattle. Persevering, he managed to keep the cattle for a year before selling them. While hedid not make any profit through the sale he realised instead that he had become attached to working with cattle. So he decided that he would pursue this activity further but that this time, he would makeit a financially lucrative activity as well.
Bah Pis completely shifted his focus from construction work to cattle rearing. In 1990, his farmer friends and he together decided to form a co-operative society so they could work together at milk production and marketing. They named the society Umlyngka Milk Producers Society after their village. There were only a few members when the society started but today the Society has 68 members, both men and women. The members also include educated youth who are interested in starting their own dairy business.
In the beginning, the society faced several challenges due to lack of technical knowledge and could produce only about 20 litres of milk per day. They sold this to Meghalaya Dairy. However their dedication to improving their dairy business ensured that milk production volumes gradually went up and kept increasing over time. Seeing the economic livelihood potential of this activity, the Government of Meghalaya created an initiative for skill training of cattle and dairy farmers. Under this, farmers were also provided hands-on training on improved cattle rearing using current scientific methods but as adapted to the local context. The Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship (MIE) under IBDLP assisted the Society by sending its members for an exposure trip to ANAND, thesite of the biggest dairy producer and dairy federation in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Here they learnt about modern technologies and methods that could be used to improve production quality and quantity. Further, MIE assisted the society by linking them to suppliers of modern, low cost milking machines that would help ease the labour required for the milking process while also improving hygiene.
Today, the society produces around 3,800 litres per day. Some of this continues to be sold to the Meghalaya Dairy while the rest is retailed to consumers in and around Shillong. The Society runs entirely on financial investments by the members themselves, and is fully sustainable today rather than being dependant on government grants or subsidies. Today the Umlyngka Society is recognized as one of the best performing milk producers in the NE region. Its members hope to continue their hard work to uplift not only their village but the state as a whole.