World Cup 2019: Assam’s ‘Amul’ dairy farmers have a special place for Afghanistan team in their heart

The ICC World Cup 2019 match between India and Afghanistan saw one of the closest finishes in the tournament, as the Men in Blue defeated the Afghans by 11 runs. The Gulbadin Naib-led team gave Kohli’s men a run for their money in what can only be described as a disaster averted by India, to stay unbeaten in the tournament.

However, as the match was underway in Southampton, somewhere in the North East part of India, people were supporting Afghanistan wholeheartedly and praying for a win for the most recent Test team in the world. These people were the dairy farmers employed by Amul who come from some remote areas in Assam and wanted the Afghanistan team to beat India, as they identify with them as their own team.

The reason behind this is that Amul is the sponsor of the team in the ongoing World Cup and the milk farmers are members of Amul’s strong milk producers’ welfare associations (MPWAs) in Assam.

Because of Amul, we all are now getting a good price for our milk, says farmers

“As milk farmers, it was always difficult for us to sell milk at a good price in the villages. And, it is because of Amul, we all are now getting a good price for our milk,” Ranjit Das, a farmer at Tihu told NorthEast now on the day of the India-Afghanistan match. These farmers are part of MPWA’s in Assam formed by The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which markets Amul products.

And thanks to them, the farmers are getting a bigger share of the consumer rupee and nearly 75,000 farmers are associated with Amul in Assam. “They (Afghanistan cricket team) are representing us in the ICC World Cup,” Ramesh Baishya, another milk farmer said, as he watched Afghanistan team proudly wear the Amul logo on their shirt sleeves.

Also read – ICC World Cup 2019: Misbah-ul-Haq urges Pakistan fans to support the national team in crisis

Given that Amul has united the milk farmers in the areas, they feel it’s their duty to extend the support to the Afghan team thanks to Amul’s brand value, which has the largest share in markets of Guwahati when it comes to the sale of milk.

Afghanistan will next face Bangladesh on June 24 in Southampton.