Amul, India’s largest dairy cooperative, has introduced Sarlaben, an artificial intelligence–enabled virtual assistant aimed at delivering real-time advisory services to dairy farmers across more than 18,500 villages in Gujarat. The platform was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and represents a key step in the cooperative’s ongoing digital transformation.
The initiative is designed to strengthen farmer engagement by leveraging advanced analytics and structured data accumulated over decades of cooperative operations. Serving over 36 lakh milk producers, many of them women, the AI assistant connects grassroots farmers with precision-based guidance to improve productivity and herd management.
Sarlaben is built on an extensive dairy data ecosystem that includes over 200 crore milk procurement transactions annually, veterinary treatment records for nearly 3 crore cattle, and approximately 70 lakh artificial inseminations conducted each year. The system also integrates fodder production mapping supported by ISRO satellite data. By combining these datasets, the AI platform generates personalised, multilingual recommendations tailored to individual farmer needs.
The assistant provides advisory support on cattle nutrition, vaccination schedules, disease prevention, breeding management, medical treatment and access to government schemes. Its objective is to ensure farmers receive timely, data-driven and practical insights that enhance decision-making at the village level.
To maximise accessibility, Sarlaben will be available through the Amul Farmer mobile app, which has over 10 lakh users, and through voice-based services for feature phone and landline users. Integrated with Amul’s Automatic Milk Collection System (AMCS) and the Pashudhan app, the platform aims to improve animal health outcomes, increase milk productivity and strengthen supply chain efficiency.
With a daily milk procurement exceeding 350 lakh litres, Amul’s AI initiative positions the cooperative at the forefront of digital innovation in India’s dairy sector.
