How growing fodder is helping some farmers in Maharashtra?

Farmers of Balawadi village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district are actively hoping to enrich their revenue by experimenting in fodder cultivation, even as the Centre has released many techniques to double farmers’ revenue by 2022,

“The Countrywide Commission on Farmers has insisted that there is a need for various sources of revenue to augment farmers’ revenue. For earlier a lot of yrs we have been doing the job on fodder farming model in drought-vulnerable parts of Sangli district and the experiment is attaining momentum,” stated farmer activist Sampatrao Pawar.

This calendar year farmers in Balawadi have planted maize on 10 acres of land as a very first move to generate a fodder bank. They will be cultivating fodder in about 25 hectares to cater to the need of farmers in Khanapur taluka (block).

Pawar says that the earlier experiments have yielded very good success. More than the last five yrs, fodder cultivation has yielded very good returns for farmers. Farmers right here say that cultivating fodder is much less highly-priced compared to sugarcane and veggies as it involves reduce total of drinking water, pesticides and fertilisers. Sangli district in South Maharashtra is a single of the foremost districts in the dairy sector and top quality fodder is often in demand from customers throughout the calendar year.

In 2019, Balawadi villagers cultivated fodder and created fodder bank for needy farmers. Ashok Jadhav, a farmer, says that govt starts fodder camps all through droughts exactly where farmers can take their cattle but these camps have a destructive impression on the overall health of cattle and milk manufacturing. “The top quality of fodder supplied at these camps is not up to the mark. Lots of fodder camps are operate by nearby politicians who feed sugarcane to the cattle to earn financial gain from the grant supplied by the govt to operate fodder camps. Farmers need to take treatment of their cattle by generating fodder banking companies,” he stated.

Sandesh Pawar of Ugam Foundation, which is doing the job with farmers, stated that the govt need to deal with minimal aid value for fodder and procure it. It can then give it to the cattle at the fodder camps. “Also, the govt need to inspire farmers to improve fodder by giving concessions and grants. Excess sugarcane cultivation has ruined the fertility of the land in a lot of sections of Maharashtra and we have proved that fodder could be a very good solution to improve the soil fertility and boost the farmers’ revenue,” he stated.

The Countrywide Commission on Farmers, in its report, states that there is a need for better analysis and improvement endeavours in the parts of inexperienced fodder and feed manufacturing. “Fodder and feed banking companies can be set up to assist landless labour households, a massive proportion of whom are Dalits, to take to stall-fed animal husbandry and yard poultry farming. Industry tie-up will be important to ensure fair return and prevent threats. Micro-finance must be supported with suitable backup products and services, so that it becomes Livelihood Finance,” the Commission mentioned.

The Commission advisable placing up of a Livestock Feed Corporation of India to give aid to nearby level SHGs engaged in the manufacturing of fodder and feed and in organising ‘Fodder and Feed Banks’ and fortify utilized analysis in various agro-ecological regions so that livestock homeowners can put into action suitable feeding regimes using locally obtainable feedstuffs and roughages.