The story of dairying in Bangladesh starts long ago. In 1946, during the undivided Indo-Pak-Bangla period, National Nutrients Co. Ltd. (at the time an all-Indian organization) planned to establish a small dairy plant with the capacity to handle 2000 liters of milk/day at Lahiri Mohanpur, Pabna (presently the Sirajganj District). Though the machinery for the plant was duly imported and the construction work also started, the plant was not completed because of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Thereafter, in 1952 a young businessman, Mr Mokhlesur, exchanged his Calcutta (India) property for all the assets of the original entrepreneur, which were at the time lying idle in the plant area. Within a couple of years he completed the plant under the name of Eastern Milk Products and managed to process and market milk, butter and ghee with a brand name of Milk Vita. In spite of the vigorous efforts of the new entrepreneur, the business was not a financial success. In 1972, soon after independence, the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh initiated two major surveys ( 1972; Nielsen 1973) for the rehabilitation of the two existing dairy plants, i.e. the Lahiri Mohanpur Dairy at Pabna and the ASTO Dairy at Dhaka. The surveys received financial support from the UNDP and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). Based on the recommendations of the surveys, the government started a new development project, the Co-operative Dairy Complex, based on theAMULPattern, India (Latif 1973). New project areas were identified and the earlier two dairies, along with their assets and liabilities, were amalgamated into the project. The organisational name of the project, the Eastern Milk Producers’ Co-operative Union Ltd., was maintained until 1977 when it was changed to the Bangladesh Milk Producers’ Co-operative Union Ltd. Under the project, a co-operative infrastructure for the milk producer farmers was created in four milk-shed areas, viz. Tangail, Tekerhat, Baghabarighat (Sirajganj) and Manikganj, along with the construction of five new dairy plants at Dhaka, Tangail, Tekerhat, Baghabarighat and Manikganj. Thereafter, in recent years, with BMPCUL’s own resources six more chilling plants were added to the infrastructure at Sreenagar, Rangpur, Bhangura, Lakshmipur, Lahiri Mohanpur and Bhairab. The current trend of milk collection requires expansion of the plants, along with the establishment of new chilling centres to facilitate proper handling of milk. Milk Vita plays a very important role in the economic development of milk-producing farmers through the purchase of milk from them and timely payment. However, the organization does not have much investment in the micro-credit sector. To facilitate the purchase of cattle for poor member farmers, the organization has invested about 10 million taka every year since 1994. The major products of Milk Vita include pasteurized liquid milk, butter, ghee, ice-cream and ice lollies, full cream milk powder, skim milk powder, flavoured milk, sweet curd, cone ice cream, cream and rasa malai (sweetmeats). With the gradual expansion of the organization, Milk Vita has been paying due attention to the addition of new products to the product range and to the maintenance of overall quality and hygienic conditions.