Tadakanapalle women achieve unique feat

Kurnool: Women of Tadakanapalle who excelled in preparing khova are in news again for a different reason. Earlier they grabbed headlines in securing government support to a hostel for cattle project in the village to ensure their village clean and green.

This time, they went one step ahead in raising green fodder in just 8-10 days in trays using maize seeds. The cattle fed with the fodder showed an increase in milk yield and fat content of the milk also improved considerably.

It may be recalled that Tadakanapalle women process daily 1000 liters of milk to make 500 kg of khova. To cut costs of making khova, they embarked on a project to produce green fodder out of maize seeds in trays without using any soil.

The green fodder is useful in increasing milk output. The farmers of the village set an example for others to emulate. The farmers have been obtaining the seeds for raising the green fodder from agriculture department and other equipment and producing the fodder.

Using limited space, without the application of soil the farmers are producing the fodder with the sparing use of water. They inclined towards raising this form of fodder, as they have to go all the way to Kurnool to purchase cattle feed which is sold at Rs 18 a kg.

Under this method, maize seeds are arranged in small trays and are watered appropriately to produce fodder out of them in 8 to 10 days.

The agriculture department sanctioned a fodder unit worth Rs 33,000 for Rs 8,325 to farmers on subsidy. In this method, green fodder is available to farmers at all times irrespective of the season.

The farmers are earning more money upon selling the milk because of the increase in the milk output with higher fat content. The cows fed on the green fodder started yielding more milk which means profit to the farmer.

Village federation of self-help groups are earning good revenue by selling this variety of fodder to the farmer.

Sudarsan Kumar, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry said that the department made arrangements to supply 150 tons of maize seeds. He appealed to all farmers, including those of Tadakanapalle, to make use of the facility.