Registering one more first in the State a cattle hostel facility was inaugurated at Ponnala, on the outskirts of the district headquarters.
The cattle hostel concept was initiated in December 2019 with an aim to create a clean and hygienic environment in the villages apart from helping landless farmers take up dairying as a sustainable livelihood and to safeguard the health of milch animals and improve the yield of milk.
The project was taken up at a cost of ₹ 2 crore — ₹ 1 crore under MG National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and ₹ 1 crore grants from corporates under their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
The hostel can accommodate 160 cattle and 160 calves, a separate shed for sick cattle to ensure that the infection does not spread and a separate delivery shed for newborn to ensure that they are not trampled upon by other adult animals.
The one-stop common milch cattle home has facilities that include chaff cutting shed, dung long making unit, clinic with all facilities, a meeting hall for community, store room to enable farmers to store their dairy implements, security room equipped with CC cameras, milk collection centre, quarters for in house staff, dung collection pits and water troughs for cattle.
Similar cattle hostels are being built in another seven villages — Ibrahimpur, Jakkapur, Narmetta, Gatlamalyala, Irkoe and Mittapally.
Corporates like Aurobindo Pharma, Vijaya Diary, GMR, Kaveri Seeds, Mahindra and Mahindra, Gland Pharma and Divis Laboratories have contributed from their CSR funds.
The cattle hostel was formally inaugurated by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao along with Collector P. Venkatarami Reddy here on Friday.
Addressing a gathering, the Minister said that the cattle hostel will be useful in increasing the revenues of farmers as it would help improve the milk yield and the animals will be healthy. He has suggested to the officials to ensure that sufficient green fodder is available for cattle.
Zilla Parishad chairperson V. Roja Sharma, Animal Husbandry Director K. Laxma Reddy and others were present.
