Animal Husbandry department to distribute goats and sheep, with 90% financial assistance, in Madurai

The scheme’s main objective is to motivate landless, small and marginal farmers to opt for sheep and goat rearing in their backyard or on common property resources, to improve their household income, officials said

Aiming to promote and strengthen goat and sheep rearing in the district, the Animal Husbandry department will distribute adult sheep and goats to farmers with 90% financial assistance.

Regional Joint Director of Animal Husbandry D. Suresh Christopher said this programme is being implemented under the National Livestock Mission 2019-20. Madurai is among the 21 districts in Tamil Nadu where the scheme will be implemented.

Dr. Christopher said that the main objective of the programme is to motivate landless, small and marginal farmers to opt for sheep and goat rearing in their backyard or on common property resources, thereby improving their household income as well as their nutritional intake.

“For the past few years, there has been a great increase in demand for mutton and chevon, and hence goat and sheep rearing has become a profitable business,” he added.

In Madurai, four blocks -- Vadipatti, Sedapatti, T. Kallupatti and Kallikudi -- have been chosen for the implementation of the scheme. From each block, 45 landless farmers will be selected.

While the financial assistance provided by the Central and State government are 60% and 30% respectively, the beneficiary has to pay the remaining amount.

Each farmer will be given 10 high-yielding adult female sheep or goats and one male sheep or goat. The total cost of this unit is ₹66,000, with the farmer having to pay ₹6,600.

A five-member group will be formed for each veterinary dispensary jurisdiction, who will select the beneficiaries from potential villages from each block, to form a cluster. “We are focussing on forming a cluster as it will be useful for the beneficiaries to pool in resources and have collective livestock farming in the future. Our ultimate aim is to form a Livestock Producer Company so that the farmers can trade their produce for good prices and earn profits,” he said.

Preference will be given to below poverty line women farmers, widows and persons with disabilities. A minimum of 30% of beneficiaries will belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Interested farmers can approach the nearest veterinary dispensary with necessary documents before June 25.