VIJAYAPURA: As day breaks, MS Sangamesh and Rizwan Jahagirdar step out for their day’s work of milking cows and buffaloes, collecting the milk and readying it to supply to customers. While Rizwan is a B.Tech engineer, Sangamesh has completed MBA, but both graduates have decided to venture into a field that has no connection with their educational qualifications.
“Indeed, it was challenging to be involved in dairy farming after doing B.Tech, however, since I was passionate about it, venturing into this field became easy,” said Rizwan.
Sangamesh, who holds a similar view, has been involved in dairy farming for over two years in Vijayapura city, after quitting his job in a private company located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Rizwan has worked in different companies in Bengaluru and Delhi after completing B.Tech. But when the company asked him to shift to Iceland, Rizwan, who was unwilling to travel abroad, quit the job and came to Vijayapura.
“After quitting, I wanted to do something in my home district. My father encouraged me to start farming as we have land in Honaganahalli village, which is close to Vijayapura city,” he said.
Rizwan said he first started with goat farming, but faced problems running it because of the unavailability of labour to take care of the animals. “Later, I decided to venture into dairy farming as I was told it is better than goat farming,” he said.
Rizwan now has around 50 cows and buffaloes in a shed in his village. He supplies over 100 litres of milk to his customers. He has some six workers who are involved in collecting and supplying milk.
Besides this, Rizwan also supplies dung to farmers as it is organic manure which is good for crops such as grapes.
Milk, an evergreen product
Sangamesh, on the other hand, lives in Vijayapura city where he started dairy farming about two years ago. After his MBA, he worked for a solar power company, then moved to Indore for a job in another company.
He, however, had to return to Vijayapura due to the lockdown during the Covid pandemic. “I had no interest in returning to Indore for the job.
Therefore, I decided to become self-employed. After exploring many possibilities, I finally decided to venture into dairy farming because milk is a commodity which will never lose its importance,” he said.
Sangamesh now has around 16 cattle, and gets around 50 litres of milk every day to supply to his regular customers.
Unlike Rizwan, Sangamesh has not employed any labour as the entire family is involved in the work. While Rizwan supplies milk to customers with the help of workers, Sangamesh’s customers come to his house every day to collect the milk.
However, both the graduates have a common view about dairy farming. “When educated people get into farming, they bring a significant difference in the work as they have knowledge and zeal. They can introduce new ideas to improve the dairy sector. The dairy not only ensures a sustainable future, but indirectly gives employment to others. I vehemently believe that educated youngsters should be involved in this occupation. The youth should not treat it as lowly work,” they said.
Rizwan also has suggestions for the government to improve the dairy sector and help farmers. He said that if at least two persons are encouraged to open a dairy in each village, it will give them a regular source of income, and at the same time, farmers can sell their fodder locally.
“We have seen, mainly during drought, that crops failed. Farmers got only fodder. If we have more dairy farms locally, then farmers can at least sell the fodder, which covers some losses,” he said.