The pension offered to dairy farmers will be raised from Rs.500 to Rs.1,000 a month, Minister for Forests and Dairy Development K. Raju has said.
He was speaking at the National Milk Day observance held here by the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) as part of the birth anniversary celebration of Verghese Kurien, father of White Revolution.
The pension hike was part of the State government’s farmer-centric approach to developing the dairy sector, the Minister said. The aim was to incentivise more farmers and the younger generations to take up dairy farming.
As one of the major difficulties faced by dairy farmers in the State was the insufficiency of fodder, the year beginning from Saturday and ending on November 26, 2017, would be observed as Fodder Year, he said. The programme aimed at increasing the availability of good-quality fodder by promoting fodder grass cultivation.
The government would also initiate a scheme this year to insure all cattle in the State. It planned to insure 40,000 heads of cattle this year, and the rest, next year, the Minister said.
The various initiatives and schemes were intended to help the State achieve self-sufficiency in milk production in two years.
