Amul deploys AI advisory tool Sarlaben across 18,000 villages in Gujarat, delivering 24/7 veterinary advice and scheme updates to 3.6 million dairy farmers.
Amul deploys AI advisory tool Sarlaben across 18000 villages
This story is drawn from the Global AI Impact Commons, an open repository of documented AI use cases.

Amul integrates artificial intelligence platform Sarlaben across its cooperative network to provide round-the-clock dairy advisory and veterinary support.

India’s largest dairy cooperative federation, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), has scaled its artificial intelligence-driven advisory platform, ‘Sarlaben’, across more than 18,000 villages in Gujarat to deliver 24/7 technical and veterinary guidance to 3.6 million dairy farmers. Derived from the Sanskrit term Sarla (meaning simple), the digital advisory engine is designed to eliminate information asymmetries and reduce response latencies for smallholder milk producers. Accessible through the Amul Farmer mobile application—which has recorded over one million downloads—and via standard interactive voice response (IVR) calls on basic feature phones and landlines, Sarlaben allows producers without advanced digital literacy or high-speed connectivity to troubleshoot cattle illnesses, query milk testing payouts, and verify government subsidy entitlements.

The technological deployment operates on top of Amul’s decades of accumulated cooperative data infrastructure and the open-source OpenAgriNet architecture. Rather than relying on isolated conversational models, Sarlaben integrates with the cooperative’s Automatic Milk Collection System and the Pashudhan management database, which collectively process more than 200 crore annual procurement transactions across 36 lakh registered suppliers. The AI system synthesizes real-world veterinary records compiled by 1,200 field veterinarians attending to three crore cattle, historical tracking logs from roughly 70 lakh artificial insemination procedures, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite fodder assessments, and state bovine census figures to deliver farm-specific, scientifically verified guidance.

From an animal science and veterinary management perspective, real-time diagnostic screening mitigates the economic risks associated with acute livestock disease. Delayed diagnosis of metabolic disorders, subclinical mastitis, or reproductive failure often results in irreversible lactation losses, high veterinary bills, or emergency herd culling. In its initial deployment, Sarlaben has processed more than 500,000 text queries and 40,000 voice interactions, directly generating over 30,000 scheduled veterinary field visits. Technical partners, including the EkStep Foundation and the IndiaAI Mission under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)—which contributed GPU compute resources at no cost—are optimizing the platform’s natural language processing models to interpret localized Gujarati dialects and colloquial agricultural vocabularies, ensuring accurate symptom interpretation.

From an enterprise finance and cooperative administration standpoint, digitalizing advisory delivery streamlines operational costs and expands financial inclusion. Sarlaben incorporates self-service eligibility verification for INR 5,000 micro-loans, allowing producers to receive digital loan approvals through automated phone interactions without extensive paperwork or physical bank visits. By automating routine inquiries regarding milk component pricing, fat-and-solids-not-fat testing splits, and state animal husbandry subsidies, district milk unions reduce administrative burdens on village society secretaries. Furthermore, the platform’s roadmap includes integrating IoT-enabled smart cattle collars to stream real-time physiological indicators directly into the predictive analytics layer, enabling automated health alerts before clinical symptoms appear.

At the farmgate procurement level, the AI platform directly supports rural women, who constitute approximately 70 percent of India’s active dairy labor force. Because rural female producers frequently encounter mobility barriers and restricted access to formal technical training, delivering voice-based, local-language advisory services directly into household living rooms enhances their livestock management autonomy. Complementing digital channels, Amul is deploying the ‘Sarla Ben Sakhi’ initiative, appointing dedicated female community champions across village dairy cooperative societies to drive peer adoption. Heading into 2027, scaling Sarlaben beyond Gujarat into a pan-India cooperative framework demonstrates how foundational digital public infrastructure can empower smallholders, protect herd productivity, and reinforce the socioeconomic resilience of India’s dairy heartland.

Source: Observer Research Foundation

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