GOALPARA, May 25 - The dairy farmers of Udaipur, a village near Dubapara under Harimura panchayat of Matia revenue circle, which is approximately 13 km from the district headquarters, are facing a harrowing time due to the corona-forced lockdown. Around 50 families belonging to the Nepali community eke out their living from dairy farming in the village. These people are now facing a lot of hardship to sell the milk produced in their farms and their precarious financial position is adding to their woes.
This correspondent who visited the village interacted with some people there. One Akash Bahadur Chetry (78), an elderly villager who is also is a dairy farmer, said that their incomes have been severely hit by the coronavirus lockdown. The lack of demand for milk because of the closure of tea stalls, hotels, eateries, sweetmeat shops and other milk-consuming shops has dealt a body blow to their overall business. The losses of the dairy farmers are gradually piling up and regular customers now prefer branded milk packets.
Dairy farmer Akash Bahadur owns 12 cows and prior to the lockdown his farm was producing around 100 litres of milk daily but currently the average production has dwindled to 40 litres. He said that a supply line with milk vendors was developed for sending milk to the neighbouring State of Meghalaya, but that too has become irregular due to which his losses have started accumulating. He also said that he cannot make cream, ghee and other milk products due to lack of storage facilities as well as lack of demand and instead prefers selling milk at whatever price he gets (which is usually in between Rs 30-35 per litre).
Akash Chetry also informed that among the dairy farmers, 20 beneficiaries were granted a loan amount of Rs 1,56,000 for buying two cows of high-yielding variety from UCO Bank, Baladmari part II under NABARD scheme �Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Programme�. He said that the farmers received 20 cows in the first installment in the month of January, 2020 in lieu of Rs 60,000 and 15 cows in the 2nd installment of Rs 55,000, besides Rs 2,800 for insurance coverage. He also informed that a total of 18 animals have not been insured till date. But, interestingly not a single beneficiary was able to inform this correspondent about the break-up of the loan amount in details except the fact that each beneficiary will receive two cows from a supplier in lieu of the total loan amount including insurance.
Expressing apprehension over the fear of losing their uninsured animals, which are now plagued by foot and mouth diseases and other ailments including malnutrition, the farmers resented that their livestock cannot be transported to the nearby veterinary hospital /dispensaries. The farmers informed that presently no government services are available in the area and in an emergency situation they have to shell out between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for a vet�s visit. The livestock has also been suffering from malnutrition due to acute shortage of green fodder and cattle feed, they said demanding the government to come up with a special dairy package to help the small farmers.