Dipen Agrawal, president of Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry and Trade (CAMIT) the Apex body of industry and trade from the State of Maharashtra called upon Sunil Kedar, Cabinet Minister for Dairy & Animal Husbandry, Sports & Youth Welfare, Government of Maharashtra. Agrawal at the outset presented flower bouquet extending greetings on Basant-Panchami and submitted a memorandum of CAMIT demanding to establish a Large Scale Dairy Project and a Poultry Farm-cum-Academy in Nagpur district of Vidarbha region to bring positive change in the livelihood of masses in a rural region.
Dipen Agrawal said it is well-acknowledged fact that farmers are in distress and Vidarbha tops in the State for having the largest number of unfortunate death of debt-ridden farmers. This year farmers are hard hit by the erratic weather conditions. In recent past government has been educating farmers to have agriculture-based alternate income sources through livestock. NGO’s, Professionals and Consultants working for the upliftment of farmers are advising farmers to undertake “Zero Budget Farming†(ZBF) / “Cow Based Farming†(CBF). He also pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh Government has taken initiative to improve farmers’ livelihood through ZBF. Dipen further added that under both methods of farming livestock play key role and it goes without saying that appropriate animal husbandry facilities at taluka level coupled with one large scale cooperative dairy project on lines of Amul in Vidarbha region will bring positive and long-lasting effect on earnings of farmers of this region.
Emphasizing that a large scale cooperative dairy in Vidarbha region will enable the farmers to have a better realization of milk, the citizen will get a good quality of dairy products and rural youths will get employment, Dipen requested Sunil Kedar to establish a large scale dairy project in Vidarbha.
Dipen Agrawal informed Sunil Kedar that poultry farming, now days is an indispensable component of the agriculture industry, as it provides rural farmers supplementary sources of income. Even small farmers can undertake poultry farming, it requires very little additional expenditure. He also brought in the notice of Animal Husbandry Minister that to promote poultry farming previous government had initiated a three-year training program to train 500 framers for poultry farming. Agrawal further said resources for commercial poultry farming in India is majorly targeted towards chicken meat and hen-eggs for domestic consumption and exports, whereas there is good potential for many more verity of birds. In order to explore the true potential of commercial poultry farming on a large scale so as to improve per capita income of farmers of this region government, he suggested establishing a poultry academy along with poultry farm on lines of government medical colleges. The academy will impart necessary training and through the farm, farmers will gain practical knowledge, he added.
Sunil Kedar, Minister for Dairy and Animal Husbandry appreciating the concern for the upliftment of rural population by a trade association said both the projects suggested have potential to enhance the income of distressed farmers and assured that his ministry will further study the proposal and do the needful in the larger interest of rural masses. He further assured us to organize a meeting with concerned authorities & representatives of CAMIT in a fortnight to discuss the said proposals in detail and decide the way forward and jot down the road map ahead.
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