In order to make the district self-reliant in meat production, the Animal Husbandry Department has launched a new project in commercial goatery.
In the first phase of the project, units with 20 goats, including 19 females and one buck, will come up in nearly thirty centres in the district. The department plans to produce an additional 100 tonnes of chevon within three years and the project will be implemented at 27 panchayats in the district along with Kollam Corporation and two municipalities, including Paravur and Punalur.
At present, Kollam has a total of 2.16 lakh goats and the district’s daily requirement of chevon is seven tonnes. Kollam is currently dependent on other districts, especially those from the northern parts of Kerala, to meet the demand.
The money needed for starting a unit under the project is ₹2.8 lakh and the farmers will get a subsidy of ₹1 lakh. The department had received around 2,000 applications for the project that will take off in the first week of January, 2021.
Malabari goats that can give birth to two to three kids per kidding will be reared in the units. The breed is mainly reared for meat since it is quite prolific compared to others and the goats are also easy to manage. The gestation period is 165 days and the farms will be able to supply the meat within one year.
Next phase in 2022
According to officials, while setting up the farms, steps will be taken to ensure the availability of young ones to be distributed to the beneficiaries in the next phase of the project that will start in January 2022.
The farms will be offering meat to Meat Products of India Ltd (MPI) while the milk from the units will go to Oushadhi.
