Revolutionizing Dairy Farming in India with AI: The Story of Sarlaben

AI technology has taken a significant leap forward in the dairy farming sector, with a groundbreaking deployment not in a high-tech lab, but in the villages of Gujarat, India. Here, 3.6 million women milk producers are benefiting from the services of an AI assistant named Sarlaben, courtesy of Amul, the world’s largest dairy cooperative.

Amul AI, a platform leveraging five decades of cooperative data, has been designed to provide personalized guidance to every farmer in its vast network, operating 24/7 and offering assistance in the farmer’s preferred language.

Launched ahead of India’s AI Impact Summit 2026, Amul AI is supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the EkStep Foundation. It serves as a pioneering example of whether AI can bridge the gap to reach the grassroots level.

Meet Sarlaben: The AI Dairy Farming Assistant

Sarlaben taps into a comprehensive agricultural data repository in India, accessible through the Amul Farmer mobile app, which has already garnered over a million downloads on Android and iOS platforms. Additionally, farmers using feature phones or landlines can access the AI assistant through voice calls.

What sets Amul AI apart is the extensive training data it relies on. Drawing from a digital infrastructure managing over two billion milk procurement transactions annually, veterinary records from 1,200 doctors, and satellite imagery for fodder production mapping, Amul AI offers personalized guidance tailored to each cattle’s specific needs.

India’s Productivity Challenges

Despite being the top milk producer globally, India faces low per-animal milk yield due to various structural issues such as small herd sizes, inadequate feed quality, and limited access to veterinary care. Amul’s network in Gujarat alone spans over 18,600 villages, supplying millions of liters of milk daily.

Information gaps have hindered progress in the dairy sector, a void that Amul AI aims to fill. Initially available in Gujarati, the platform can potentially expand to 20 Indian languages, reaching a broader farmer base across the country.

The Cooperative Model and Technological Advancements

Amul’s cooperative structure, built over five decades, laid the foundation for the data infrastructure supporting Amul AI. Unlike many agri-tech startups, Amul already possessed the necessary data, focusing on making it actionable at the farmer level.

Experts see Amul AI as a game-changer, addressing critical challenges in farmer awareness, veterinary care, and access to grazing resources. With the potential to revolutionize the dairy sector, vernacular AI could usher in a new era of agricultural innovation in India.

Scaling Up and Future Prospects

The launch of Amul AI has garnered support from top government officials, including the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel. The platform is set to be showcased at the AI Impact Summit 2026, with backing from MeitY and the EkStep Foundation.

As the tool extends its reach, the focus will be on ensuring it benefits those farmers most in need of assistance. The platform’s success will be measured by factors such as dialect support, adoption rates among feature-phone users, and tangible improvements in yield resulting from AI-driven recommendations.

Amul AI represents a significant step forward in leveraging AI for dairy farming, built on a strong foundation of real-world data and farmer-centric solutions. The journey ahead will determine whether this innovative approach truly marks the dawn of a new era in Indian agriculture.