A group of animal activists has rolled out a novel initiative to help the family members of farmers who committed suicide by giving them free Kangayam and other native breed cattle and training them in ‘zero-budget’ farming techniques.

The members of Senapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF) at Kangayam and ‘Save Tamil Nadu Farmer’, a movement based at Richmond in United States of America, who are behind the scheme, have identified nearly 300 such families spread over Tamil Nadu.

“We have started distributing cattle free of cost to 147 families identified as beneficiaries in the first phase of project. We are also training them on ‘zero-budget farming’, a technique to produce value-added products from cattle dung and urine, at Kangayam”, Karthikeya Senapathy, managing trustee of SKCRF, told The Hindu. The knowledge on ‘zero-budget farming’ would enhance the unit value realisation of the families in distress as income would come to them from the sale of milk as well as from value-added products from dung and urine like ‘amrithakarasal’ used as substitute for fertilizers.

An interesting aspect of the scheme is that the cattle breed selection varies depending on the areas from where the beneficiaries hail from and thereby, ensure better adaptability for the animals.

“People from western region are given Kangayam cattle breed. Similarly, Umbalachery breed are distributed to people from eastern districts and Puliyakulam breed to people from Madurai area”, said Mr. Karthikeya Senapathy.

First published by The Hindu