The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Farmer milks his way to success

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Farmer milks his way to success

S. Harpal Singh

Bhojanna’s personal care in rearing buffaloes pays off

He takes the animals for grazing to his own fields
He uses the dung produced at his dairy as manure

Setting a model: Bhojanna at his dairy farm.

KAMLAPUR (ADILABAD DT.): Kokkera Bhojanna’s experience in dairying at basic level can serve to guide the efforts of the State and Union governments in the revival of the activity in a big way in Adilabad district. He is one among the handful of farmers in the district who has successfully reared milch animals loaned through the Velugu project in 2002.

Under the ‘Pashu kranti’ scheme, the government is in the process of rearing 5,000 buffaloes in the district by spending a few crores of rupees towards subsidy. A similar effort under Velugu or District Poverty Initiatives Project has come to a naught with almost all the 4,000 buffaloes given to farmers dying within a few months.The key to Bhojanna’s success is not only the breed he has selected but also the care shown towards feeding of the animal later. While a majority of the farmers preferred a breed from Coastal Andhra, he selected one from Maharashtra that evidently adjusted itself to the local environment.

Fodder cultivation

Bhojanna does not allow the animals to go for grazing with the village herd but takes them to his own fields in order to have personal supervision on the grazing. He cultivates green fodder in a one-acre plot for the animals during summer when fodder becomes scarce.

In addition, he personally milks the buffaloes and markets the milk.

“I have started with just one buffalo in 2002. I now have eight animals of which four produce 16 litres of milk everyday. The two bulls are used for breeding,” revealed Bhojanna.

His mini-dairy also produces about 10 tonnes of dung in one year that he uses as manure in his 10 acre agriculture farm land. “Partly due to use of such manure, my cotton yield has gone up from 20 quintals in 2002 to 70 quintals this year,” he adds.

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