Mahottari. Madhes province is moving towards self-sufficiency in milk. With the grant assistance of rural enterprise and economic development project economic corridor office Bardibas under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, livestock farmers have reared murra breed of buffaloes. The Corridor Office predicts that Madhes province will soon become self-sufficient in milk.
The project covers 84 local levels of Madhes that are touched by the East-West Highway and The Postal Road. More than 5,000 farmers are associated with 179 groups in these local levels. Out of these groups, 110 groups with professional action plans have been selected in the grant process. At present, 58 out of 110 groups have been provided the first installment of the grant as per the business action plan. Out of these, farmers belonging to 50 groups have planned to rear buffaloes, according to the office.
Project chief Rajesh Sah said, “We give priority to milk, meat and other vegetable production schemes, according to which 50 groups of farmers have now come forward with a plan to rear milch breeds of murra buffaloes.” Similarly, a commercial action plan for meat production has been forwarded, he added.
After the agreement with the buyer by ensuring the market of milk, the commercial action plan of buffalo rearing has moved forward. The farmers of the group who have made an action plan for buffalo farming have built a cowshed under the direct supervision of the technicians. A buffalo of the Murra breed gives at least 25 liters of milk daily.
Dinesh Sah, a farmer from Siraha, said, “We have already reached an agreement on the market, buyer and price of milk. ’
Rautahat has the highest number of farmer groups at 24. There are 15 to 50 farmers in one group. There are more than 1,400 farmers in these groups. At present, 20,000 litres of milk is being produced daily from the buffaloes reared by these farmers. On an average, a farmer earns Rs 24,000 per month. The project will provide 45 per cent subsidy on the total cost of each action plan and 55 per cent will be borne by the group.
The project has already constructed and brought into operation 35 integrated service centers with state-of-the-art facilities to provide livestock-related services to the farmers associated with the group. These service centers have been constructed at a cost of Rs 910 million. These service centers have been providing technical advice services to farmers for soil testing, laboratory for organic farming, animal dung test, treatment and animal husbandry.
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