The recent flood has cast a cloud over lives of thousands of farmers in livestock sector in Wayanad, a district that stood second in milk production in the State.
“The flood has spoiled our dreams,” says Narayani, a small scale dairy farmer at Neervaram, near Panamaram. “Our house and personal belongings have been damaged and our animals are starving. There is no fodder for the animals in this locality with the fields under water,” says Ms.Naryani, whose five-member family relies on dairying for livelihood.
The condition of other similar farmers in the district is no different. “It has been over a week since milk cooperative societies have stopped procuring milk from us because road link remains snapped after the landslides,” A. Balakrishnan, a dairy farmer at Pozhuthana says.
According to the preliminary Animal Husbandry department reports, farmers in the livestock sector have incurred a loss of ₹5 crore. Close to 300 heads of cattle, including 36 buffalo, 118 pigs, 98 goats, and 22,125 units of poultry including 178 ducks, 18,003 quails, and 12 rabbits have perished in the flood.
“Hundreds of animals and birds were reported missing. The figures are likely to increase manifold when the flood-hit families return home from relief camps,” Winny Joseph, District Animal Husbandry officer-in-charge, Wayanad, told The Hindu .
However the department, in association with various NGOs functioning in the neighbouring districts, has begun to disburse free cattle feed and total mixed ration or TMR, which is a mix containing essential nutrients, fibres and calories to the flood-hit dairy farmers.
The department has supplied 700 bags (25 kg a bg) TMR, 2,500 kg of cattle feed, 15 tonnes of green fodder, 10 tonnes of maize fodder, and 10 tonnes of silage (storage form of fodder) to more than 600 flood-affected livestock farmers at their doorstep so far.
“We are also planning to procure more bags of cattle feed, TMR, green fodder and hay for the farmers,” he says, adding the focus now is on organising camps in various parts of the district to keep epidemics and other infectious diseases at bay.
