Transformation of a village from adversity to prosperity

Zadcherla: Undeterred by their village earning the dubious distinction of dark village agriculturally, farmers of Boinpally in Midgel mandal of Mahabubnagar district thought out of the box and replaced crop farming with dairy farming and started earning impressively like government servants.

Midgel was considered as the dark mandal due to continuously receding ground water table. The meager water coming from bore wells is not sufficient to irrigate crops. Therefore, they switched over to dairy farming two years ago as a viable alternative.

Since milk is commanding good price in the market, the farmers purchased cows and buffaloes with each spending between Rs 50,000 and Rs 80,000. Each household has at least three to 10 milch animals. A liter of cow milk is priced between Rs 28 and Rs 33 and buffalo milk between Rs 48 and Rs 55.

On an average each farmer – depending on the number of dairy animals- earns anything between Rs 30,000 and Rs 55,000 a month. Over 200 families in the village are dependent on dairy farming for their livelihood. They are cultivating fodder crops with the meager water from the bore wells.

Besides Vijaya Dairy, two private dairies are also procuring milk from the village. Since the village progressed in dairy farming, a milk chilling center has been set up here. On an average 12,000 liters of milk, including 3000 liters from Boinpally, is processed from the region.

The villagers are happy at the prospect of receiving money every fortnight like government employees. They are urging the government to provide milch animals on subsidy basis for further development of dairy farming. They are also appealing to the authorities for posting a veterinary doctor in the veterinary hospital.

By R Narender Goud