A novel concept of Community Cattle Centre is taking shape as a pilot project in Siddipet district.
Eight villages in Siddipet have come forward set up the community cattle care centres, commonly called as ‘Cattle hostels’, with the initiative of Finance Minister T. Harish Rao.
The villagers of Ponnala, Jakkapur, Ibrahimpur, Gatla Malyala, Mittapalli, Irkodu, Gurrala Gondi and Narmetta villages will lead the trend in Telangana in the next few months convinced with the benefits of community cattle centres.
Rearing of milch cattle is an additional source of income for many agricultural families in the villages and for some families, dairy itself is the main source of income. Breaking from the convention of rearing cattle in their homes, people in eight villages in Siddipet district opted to hold their cattle in the community cattle hostels to come up soon.
Mr. Harish Rao, who saw the multiple advantages of the concept being promoted by an NGO Bala Vikas, took personal interest in creating awareness among the villagers. The community centre with centralised nurturing, medical facilities for the livestock and bulk supply and marketing of milk will ensure better incomes to the farmers. The villagers gave land for the ‘Cattle hostels’ in their villages and Mr.Harish Rao is helping mobilise funds for the cattle sheds.
The corporate sector impressed with the concept, is coming forward to extend financial assistance. The concept got a boost on Tuesday with Gland Pharma Ltd. MD and CEO Srinivas Sadhu handing over a cheque for ₹1 crore for the project. Mr. Harish Rao said the amount would be utilised for setting up a cattle centre with all facilities in one village.
The proposed ‘cattle hostels’ have separate sheds for cows and buffaloes and modern facilities to provide fodder and water in all seasons. The organisers of community cattle centres will provide a caretaker and some helpers and arrange for a veterinary doctor to visit the centre every day and examine the cattle. “This will help the cattle to be healthy and give better milk yield. The community centre makes it easy for dairy farmers to supply to the nearest procurement centre, explore better marketing avenues and incomes,” said a representatives of Bala Vikas.
With cattle kept in community centres would help improve the sanitation in the villages and also enable processing of the animal dung and make manure and vermicompost.
