Livestock keeping is common in many cities in India, driven by the demand for animal-source foods, particularly perishable milk. We selected five cities from different regions of the country and conducted a census in 34 randomly selected peri-urban villages to identify and describe all smallholder dairy farms. In total 1,690 smallholder dairy farms were identified, keeping on average 2.2 milking cows and 0.7 milking buffaloes. In Bhubaneswar, the proportion of cows milking was only 50%, but in other cities it was 63–73%. In two of the five cities, more than 90% of the farmers stated that dairy production was their main source of income, while <50% in the other cities reported this. In one of the cities, only 36% of the households kept milk for themselves. Market channels varied considerably; in one city about 90% of farms sold milk to traders, in another, 90% sold to the dairy cooperative, and in another around 90% sold directly to consumers. In conclusion, peri-urban dairy systems in India are important but also varying between different cities, with only one city, Bengaluru, having a well-developed cooperative system, and the northeastern poorer region being more dependent on traders. Further studies may be needed to elucidate the importance and to design appropriate developmental interventions.

在印度许多城市，牲畜饲养很普遍，这是由于对动物源性食品（特别是易腐烂的牛奶）的需求所驱动。我们从该国不同地区选择了五个城市，并在34个随机选择的郊区村庄进行了人口普查，以识别和描述所有小农奶牛场。总共确定了1,690个小牧场奶牛场，平均饲养2.2头奶牛和0.7头水牛。在布巴内斯瓦尔，挤奶的比例仅为50％，而在其他城市则为63-73％。在五个城市中的两个中，超过90％的农民表示乳制品生产是他们的主要收入来源，而其他城市中<50％的农民表示。在其中一个城市中，只有36％的家庭为自己保留牛奶。市场渠道差异很大；在一个城市中，大约90％的农场将牛奶卖给了商人，另外90％出售给了乳制品合作社，另外90％直接出售给了消费者。总而言之，印度的城郊乳制品体系很重要，但在不同城市之间也有所不同，只有一个城市班加罗尔拥有发达的合作社系统，而东北较贫困的地区更加依赖贸易商。可能需要进一步研究以阐明其重要性并设计适当的发展干预措施。