The Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) or Milma started its operation in 1980 with its head office at Thiruvananthapuram. The project was launched in 1963 on the basis of a bilateral agreement executed between the Swiss Confederation and the Government of India. The project has made great strides in the improvement of livestock farming in the state. One of them is the developmen
t of Swiss Brown, a cross breed suited for the state's conditions. The project is now managed by the Kerala Livestock Development and Milk Marketing Board. It main motive was to implement the Operation Flood programme started by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Kerala. The project impact was so widespread that close to about 83 % of the adult cattle of the state got converted to the new breed – Sunandini-, the milk production increased by over ten times and the per capita availability of milk increased by over 7 times with over a million families dependent on milk production. The project has succeeded in integrating better technology and management to the traditional small holder production system. It also demonstrated how the high productive, semi stall fed cows led to a spontaneous decline in the total bovine population of the state from 34.6 lakh in 1977 to 21.86 lakh in 2003 when the total bovine population of India went through an upsurge. By demonstrating a growth model for productivity enhancement, the project not only impacted the million small livestock holders in Kerala, but also millions outside the state. The project demonstrated revolutionary institutional changes beginning with the Indo Swiss project of Kerala, an autonomous institution under the govt. of Kerala to the Livestock Development and Milk Marketing Board and then to the present autonomous company - the Kerala Livestock Development Board, with the formidable dairy cooperative system under the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (MILMA), under the able guidance of its first managing director S. Nagarajan IAS, spun off as successful an independent entity.
