TIRUPATTUR: As the cattle population in Vellore district is estimated at 5.31 lakh and most of the land holdings are rain-fed, the possibility of maintaining fodder fields is minimal. Hence, farmers will be trained on effective utilisation of sugarcane tops as dairy cattle feed.
A training programme is being held based on the project “Silage making of sugarcane tops among farmers — an alternative animal fodder”, organised by Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Vellore. The financial support for the project was through the Agriculture Technology Management Agency for which District Collector Dharmendra Pratap Yadav was the chairman. The first level of the training was held at the Tirupattur Co-operative Sugar Mills at Kethandapatti. The resource person was Dr. V. Balakrishnan, Head, Animal Nutrition Department, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai.
The Tirupattur Co-operative Sugar Mills Special Officer Vijayalakshmi addressed the gathering. Dr. Baskaran, Head, Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, and Assistant Professor Dr. S. Saraswathi were also present. Dr. Baskaran, the principal investigator of the project said that, as there was no chance of fodder fields in the district, the farmers were now forced to look for unconventional fodder such as sugarcane tops, which were abundant and thrown away unused in this belt. The period, during which the harvesting of sugarcane was not undertaken, the cattle were underfed.
The district possessed a vast potential of livestock farming, and was the leader in milk production in the State.
Stating that sugarcane was being cultivated in 28,000 hectares generating about 560 kilo tonnes of sugarcane tops a year, he said that the main objective of the training was to effectively utilise sugarcane tops as fodder and to study the level of adoption of ensilage technique. Further, it aimed to educate the end users at three levels — cane officers, sugarcane growers and harvesters — and to assess the level of the uptake of the technology.
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