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Country life A milk tanker on a dirt road – it’s a common sight in rural New Zealand, but one not usually associated with the countryside of India.
Last year, World Vision trained families from the six villages to keep and milk buffalo. The milk co-operative and the Indian government invested substantially in the project, with the families making a small contribution and World Vision paying the rest. The government also provides free veterinary check-ups and free buffalo insurance. Dairy farming is not a mechanised industry in this part of India – each family milks its animals by hand. The families of Paniya village have a total of 34 buffalo, each family involved in the project owning one or two animals. Every morning and evening the tanker visits from the milk co-operative’s dairy factory, 12km away. As in New Zealand, farmers are paid on the fat content of the milk. Production in this village is 200 litres of milk a day. Paniya’s village development committee has plans to streamline the process further, by using a computer to measure the fat content and keep extensive records. Sonal is 15. She fits milking her family’s buffalo into her busy day of attending school, doing four hours of homework and cooking for her family. Sonal says the milk project “has made a big difference” to their lives. Samy Satvedi, Dahod ADP manager, explains the difference the profits from selling milk are already making for the families involved. “The increase [in incomes] has made it possible for farmers to diversify their agriculture. Farmers are now able to buy quality seeds and even improve infrastructure in the village on their own,” he says. The dairying project would not have achieved this level of success in such a short time if it were not part of a World Vision Area Development Programme – an integrated programme of development activities. It has benefited from improvements that have already taken place in the community. The wells and lift irrigation schemes that World Vision has constructed in this village allow families to grow enough food for their animals. Income-generating activities and increased agricultural production have earned the families money to invest in things they need, such as the buffalo. Samy Satvedi is already planning how the dairy farming project can be integrated into yet more activities. “The manure derived from buffalo waste has potential to run a bio-gas plant,” he says. World Vision has used this type of technology in other villages to run lights and fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly stoves. Milk tankers, buffalo and diversified agriculture are all signs that country life is changing for the better in villages such as Paniya in Dahod ADP. |
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