The State government will implement the scheme to promote the use of sex-sorted semen for producing female calves in all districts, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J. Chinchurani has said. Inaugurating Padavu 2024, a State-level dairy farmers’ meeting at St. Thomas Forane Church parish hall at Anakkara, Idukki, on Monday, Ms. Chinchurani said that presently, the technology was used in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts. “The government has allotted three such units for Idukki for which ₹17 crore has been sanctioned,” said Ms. Chinchurani.
“The government’s interventions in the dairy sector have helped transform Kerala into a dairy farmer-friendly State,” she said. “The department will implement a project named Ksheeralayam in the plantation sector to increase the income of plantation workers and improve their financial stability. Under the scheme, 10 cows will be reared by 10 people in a community cattle shed in tea estate layams (cluster homes). As part of the project, talks have been initiated with Kannan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) company at Munnar in Idukki,” said Ms. Chinchurani.
Awards given away
Ms. Chinchurani gave away the Dr. Verghese Kurien Award for the best dairy cooperative society to the Maikkavu Dairy Cooperative Society in Kozhikode district. The Minister presented the Ksheera Sahakari Award instituted to honour dairy farmers who produced the highest volume of milk to Shine K.B. of Thodupuzha and handed over the award to Lakshmi Cooperative Society in Munnar for the non-APCOS category.
Milma Chairman K.S. Mani; Kerala Feeds Chairman K. Sreekumar; and Dairy Development Department joint director Shalini Gopinath, among others, attended the function.
According to officials, the Animal Husbandry department, Dairy Cooperative Societies, Kerala Dairy Farmers Welfare Board, Milma, Kerala Feeds, and KLD Board are organising the three-day meeting that is being attended by nearly 5,000 dairy farmers. On Sunday, Peerumade MLA Vazhoor Soman flagged the proclamation procession of Padavu 2024.
According to officials, Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine will inaugurate the valedictory of the event at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. A dairy expo featuring 35 stalls was arranged for the event.
