Govt to offer cattle, advanced biogas plants, poultry to boost rural income

Pilot project in Gujarat to be replicated across India

In a first, the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has decided to roll out a scheme to increase rural household income. Under the scheme, rural households will receive free cattle, advanced biogas plants, and poultry.

To be launched in August this year, the pilot project will see households of a village in Gujarat that do not have cattle, receive free cows or buffaloes, along with advanced biogas plants. In addition, roughly 10 houses will receive hen on a voluntary basis; the eggs produced will be bought back by the government.

“There are roughly 463 households in this village identified on a pilot basis in Gujarat; 93 of which do not have cattle. From the households with cattle, the village generates an annual income of Rs 63 lakh. The government will now provide the rest with cattle, apart from biogas plants equipped with the latest technology. The slurry and gas from the plants will be bought back from the farming households at Rs 2 per kilo. With just two of such provisions, there is a possibility of 200 per cent growth in farm income,” said Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Giriraj Singh.

Singh also said that the Government of India through his ministry will launch a pilot project from Gujarat in August, where roughly 10 households from the identified village will receive country (non-broiled) hen on a voluntary basis. 

Based on a similar project that Singh had run in Bihar during his regime there, the minister said, “Typically it generates an additional income of Rs 8,000-10,000 per household. As part of the pilot project in Gujarat which will be later replicated across the country, 21 milk co-operatives in the state have been asked to identify one village each for distribution of hen.”

In addition, the ministry is also going to make efforts to enhance milk productivity among farmers involved in animal husbandry, said Singh. “For instance, we are going to add drumsticks to the set of crops used as green fodder for the cattle. With this, we estimate 20-30 per cent increase in milk productivity,” he added.

Singh said the government aimed at eliminating foot and mouth disease in the next five years, because of which farmers normally lose 30 per cent of their profit. For this, the government is working on increasing immunity and vaccination, he added. The minister also said that the fund has been allotted to eradicate brucellosis as well.

Talking about the development and opportunities in the fisheries sector, Singh said a special fund has been allotted for Pradhan Mantri Matsaya Sampada Yojana. “The government is focusing on technology development for surveillance and security of fishermen and making them capable of deepsea fishing. Gujarat has a good opportunity in prawn export,” he added.

Meanwhile, focusing on the need for breed improvement, the minister said that the government is exploring embryo transplant and in-vitro fertilisation techniques to improve the breed.  

            breed and better

• Government to ask milk co-operatives to adopt one village each for pilot
• Each household in the village to receive cattle, biogas plant, country hen
• Slurry, gas from biogas plants to be bought back at Rs 2 per kg from farmers
• 10 households from the village to be offered country hen on voluntary basis
• Additional income from poultry estimated at Rs 8,000-10,000 per month
• Govt estimates nearly 200% growth in farmers’ income from pilot