UDUPI: Untimely rain and lack of raw materials with the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has led to a shortage of cattle feed, especially in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. Though dairy farmers in the two districts depend on napier grass and dry hay to feed cows, the unseasonal rain in November has rotted dry hay across the region, forcing over one lakh dairy farmers from 733 milk producers’ cooperative societies to source fodder from KMF.
But KMF has to supply fodder all the way from Hassan, Rajankunte and Shikaripur, where its units are situated. While the demand has increased manifold, the production at these units is hit because of scarcity of raw materials, including deoiled rice bran and maize. For dairy farmers, the waiting period to get fodder from KMF has increased which has affected milk production.
Raviraj Shetty, a dairy farmer from Asodu in Kundapur, told The New Sunday Express that there is an acute shortage of cattle feed. ‘’I told directors of Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (DKMUL) that a separate cattle feed production unit should be set up either in Dakshina Kannada or Udupi district. While private companies sell a 50 kg bag of fodder for Rs 1,400, KMF supplies it at Rs 1,050,’’ he said.
A DKMUL director, Sanoor Narasimha Kamath, said they have submitted a proposal to KMF to start the fodder production unit in DK district. “Forty acres of government land has been identified at Puttur and the unit may be started there,” he added. DKMUL is also promoting a ‘green fodder production’ scheme, where farmers are encouraged to grow hybrid napier tropical grass. “They are given an incentive of Rs 20,000 (for three years) for growing napier in one acre of land. Over 3,000 acres in undivided DK district have been covered under the scheme,” he said.
DKMUL president Raviraj Hegde Kodavoor said the shortage may get solved if the production unit is set up in one of the two districts.Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan said he will talk to authorities concerned at KMF and ensure that there is no shortage of fodder in the state. On setting up a production unit in Udupi or Dakshina Kannada district, he said he will consult the KMF president.