A bank to ease fodder shortage opens in Gannavaram

Vijayawada: A fodder bank and skill-based training facility, supported by Indian Oil under its CSR programme, was inaugurated at the Livestock Farm Complex, NTR College of Veterinary Science, Gannavaram on Thursday.

RSS Rao, Executive Director and State Head of IndianOil - Telangana and Andhra Pradesh inaugurated the fodder bank in the presence of Dr T Ravikumar, Associate Dean, NTR College of Veterinary Science, Dr CH Venkata Sesiah, Prof & Head, Livestock Farm Complex, NTR College of Veterinary Science, Phani Rammohan, Chief General Manager (HR), IndianOil and G Swaminathan, General Manager (CSR), IndianOil.

The fodder bank and skill-based training facility for youth and farmers is a Rs50 lakh project, set up for mitigating fodder scarcity and for improving food and employment security in the surrounding areas. It is set up on2.2-kilometer tank bund and in about 10 acres of plain land at the Livestock Farm Complex of NTR College of Veterinary Sciences, Gannavaram.

The primary objective of this project is to support sustained feeding of cattle and buffalo during the periods of fodder scarcity to avoid significant drop in milk production, leading to economic loss to the rural dairy farmers. The rural women / farmers can get the silage bales from the fodder bank as and when there is a fodder shortage. Each fodder bale weighing about 50-60 kg is sufficient for one dairy animal for 2-3 days.

High yielding locally adaptable green fodder varieties like Hybrid Napier grass (Super Napier), Guinea grass, COFS 29 and fodder trees like Moringa, Subabul and Sesbania are planted as part of the fodder bank to ensure year-round fodder availability. Around 2000 tons of green fodder is produced every year both from the bund and the land. Apart from the fodder bank, a classroom has also been constructed under this project to impart training programmes for about 200 unemployed youth and women per year in areas of livestock and fodder production, thereby empowering them to settle as livestock entrepreneurs.