A Farmer to a Goat Rearer……….
Shakuntala Devi hails from Kanchi village of Tamar block of Ranchi district. Along with her husband and three children, she was leading a miserable life. The family’s only source of income was traditional farming, which barely paid enough to meet the daily expenses and the cost of education for their children.
In the meantime, she got the benefits from JTELP program running under the support of JTDS. She was selected as a beneficiary for goat rearing. After initial round of awareness cum enterprise development training, she received 6 Goats ( 5 Female and 1 male) along with a goat shed. Further, with the help of Pashu-Sakhi cadre, she received Improvement animal management training in goat rearing. Since then, she has never retreated and kept pushing forward with hard work, dedication and courage.
As a result of good management, goats gave birth to new kids at regular intervals. According to her, till now she has received 24 off springs from her goats. She says that she sells off the goat once they are of a healthy weight. In different phases, she sold 15 goats till now and earned approx 40,000 rupees. At present, she has 11 livestock left with her whose current market price is about Rs. 25,000.
She uses this income in her children’s education and in the treatment of herself. She proudly says that her elder daughter will complete graduation by next year and the other two children are studying in school. This is made possible by the additional income received from the goat enterprise with the help of JTDS.
A Farmer to a Goat Rearer……….
Bhuta Munda, a mid aged man, belongs to Kanchi Village in Tamar Block of Ranchi district. His family consists of 7 members. Initially, the family mainly engaged in agricultural practices like other families in the village.
According to the provisions of JTELP project, he received 6 goats as initial aid. Since then, his wife helped him in goat rearing. She actively participated in community training and other meetings held at village level. As a result of this trainings and activeness, she gained and honed her skill which was reflected in the increase of goats in her possession.She sold 4 goats at the rate of Rs. 6000 and earned Rs 24,000. She was very happy and excited with this early phase of profit.
At present, she has 7 goats left with her.She thanks all the project partners and says that she now has a good resource to sustain her family of 7 members. Now her family has multiple source of income such as Farming, Goat rearing and as worker and when one source of income fails, she makes it up with her earnings from other sources. Through diversified livelihood activities, the family is in a much better position today.She uses this income in her children’s education and in the treatment of herself. She proudly says that her elder daughter will complete graduation by next year and the other two children are studying in school. This is made possible by the additional income received from the goat enterprise with the help of JTDS.
A Farmer to a Goat Rearer……….
Concept of breeding units in JTDS intervention areas has evolved after integration of two different concepts i.e. Sustainable Income Generation for SHGs/YGs and availability of low cost qualitative livestock at district level for the tribal people.
In the due course of implementing a livestock led livelihood model it has been realized that availability of quality livestock at district level could be a boon for existing livestock rearers. It was found that livestock rearers were dependent on local haat for any kind of procurement and most of the time they get deceived by the market players who use to sell diseased and unhealthy livestock at higher price. This kind of livestock purchase has not only resulted into direct monetary loss for the rearer but also affected the existing herd as the unhealthy and diseased animal infect the remaining herd with the family and increases mortality.
At the same time, self-help groups and youth groups created by JTDS were flourishing and ready to take up small village based enterprises so that they can expand their arena from normal credit and thrift to market based livelihood activity.
With the amalgamation of both these concepts, the idea of breeding unit has been conceived and implemented.Goat rearing and as worker and when one source of income fails, she makes it up with her earnings from other sources. Through diversified livelihood activities, the family is in a much better position today.She uses this income in her children’s education and in the treatment of herself. She proudly says that her elder daughter will complete graduation by next year and the other two children are studying in school. This is made possible by the additional income received from the goat enterprise with the help of JTDS.
A Farmer to a Goat Rearer……….
Srimit Sardar, an active beneficiary of Palidih village Under Potka Block of E.Singhbhum district, shares her story, how difficult her life was 2 years ago and what has changed now. Srimit Sardar, a mid-aged woman, was living her life as a wife and mother. She helps her husband during agriculture season and during lean season is involved in household chores. They own 2 acres of cultivable land as a primary source of livelihood. Agriculture is the primary source of income and livelihood for the family and it was very difficult to sustain a family through agriculture alone. In the last agricultural year, they earned an income of 20,000 rupees from farming and other sources. The family has been rearing indigenous Poultry birds from past several years for the purpose of selling eggs
and to meet the nutritional requirements of her family. In the FY 2017- 18, they got the opportunity under the project to avail goat shed and 6 goats (1 buck and 5 does). Since then, she has never retreated and kept pushing forward with hard work, dedication and courage. They reared their goats under semi-intensive model where open grazing with provision of nutritious well-balanced ration along with this the family provided a hygienic living condition to goats as they cleaned their shed regularly. She is the fast mover in her community, as during de-worming and vaccination drive conducted by ASSET & W team, she was involved in community mobilization and getting her stock dewormed and vaccinated. This helped her in increasing the herd size by reducing the mortality and improving the health status of stock by regular deworming. The herd size increased from 6 to 18 in just one and half years. She sold 4 goats at the rate of Rs. 3,000/unit and earned a total amount of Rs. 12,000. At present, she has stock of 15 goats, 10 adults and 5 kids. The family is gradually moving towards a sustainable goat enterprise development and hopeful of good gains in the future.