LUCKNOW: Zubairganj cattle market is catching the eyes not only of the management students but other state governments also as it is emerging as a rapidly growing centre of a powerful rural economy.
Situated on Lucknow-Faizabad-Gorakhpur highway in Sohawal, Ayodhya, Zubairganj cattle market had Telangana home minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali as guest on Sunday.
The Telangana minister had visited to tap the animal market in Ayodhya from where cows and buffaloes would be supplied to the south Indian state as part of Telangana government’s welfare schemes under which milch animals are given free to rural population and farmers to make them self-reliant.
Zubairganj market figures among the biggest cattle markets in the country. It runs a powerful rural economy by accruing hundreds of crores as income to cattle farmers and dairy owners, especially from north India.
According to t market director Haji Feroz Khan Gabbar, the decision of Telangana government to buy milch animals will certainly give boost the rural economy directly benefitting the marginal farmers and rural population that breeds animals for sale.
“It is not the first time that the Telangana government has approached us. We had supplied cattle to Telangana three years ago also. However, this time, we expect to supply thousands of animals,” said the director.
“We run and manage this market as a cooperative centre for farmers with no interference from the government,” Gabbar said.
Moreover, even the budding managers of IIM-Lucknow thronged Zubairganj in good numbers to study the rural economy under which marginal and small farmers are buyers and sellers of the cattle.
Significantly, a group of 60 students from IIM-L visited the Zubairganj cattle market also on Sunday to learn how such a powerful economic activity can be run in the absence of well-installed corporate paraphernalia.
In fact, in Zubairganj, there are no middlemen involved in buying and selling animals. The cattle farmers do direct business.
It is a round-the-year business with no off-seasons. Milch animals from this animal market are in great demand and thrive without corporate help and advertising support says the director.