KERALA :

8 yrs into venture, V Hakeem has over 150 cows and supplies 650l of milk daily, reports A SATISH

Palakkad :

By 2am, V Hakeem is on his feet. He then goes to his coconut grove, located more than a kilometre away, and wakes up his eight migrant workers. And they begin work at his dairy farm in the village of Kamblichungam near Chittur. Hakeem’s foray into dairy farming happened with the cost of purchasing manure for his coconut grove becoming unaffordable. “So I decided to set up a dairy farm inside the grove,” he recounts.

Eight years down the line, Hakeem now has more than 150 cows and supplies 650 litres of milk daily to the Panniperunthala milk society, of which he is the president.

On Friday, he received the district’s best farmer award instituted by the dairy development department. Last year, he supplied 1.36 lakh litres of milk. Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J Chinchurani gave away the award. “It is the involvement of the farmer that brings in the results,” Hakeem says.“Apart from high-breed varieties like Holstein Friesian and Jerseys, we also have native varieties like Sahiwal, Vechur and Gir.” 

He decided to set up the shed there as the cows can be housed in a cool place. “There are coconut palms on all sides, which helps the cattle stay cool and produce more milk. The only issue is that I have to replace the sheets of the shed occasionally as dry palm leaves fall on them.”

He now plans to install a machine that can automatically milk 20 cows in seven minutes. “It will reduce the workload,” he points out. Hakeem says dairy farmers should be given at least Rs 50 per litre to ensure a minimum return on investment, with the cost of feed and other inputs increasing substantially. 

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by A Satish, Express News Service / April 03rd, 2022