JOIN US “We have not set up Milk Producers’ Women Cooperative Society for fetching profit. We want to become empowered and live in unity and harmony,” said Permanki Society President Subhadra Rao.
The society situated in Permanki in Mangalore taluk is three years old. The society has three self-help groups—Preethi Nandini, Jyothi Nandini and Deepa Nandini with 45 members. The self-help groups are not engaged in disbursing loans alone. Instead, the members have taken dairy farming as an occupation, to supplement their income.
The women come together twice in a month to prepare fodder for the cattle.
Jowar, wheat, salt, husk of paddy, green gram, bengal bram, urad dal, minerals, coconut, groundnut fodder and ragi are used for preparing the fodder. The production cost of one kg fodder is Rs 15.50. The society sells it for Rs 17 and fetches a profit of Rs 1.50. “We are not preparing fodder to earn income. Instead, we want cattle to get nutritious food. We all work unitedly for the welfare of the Society,” she said.
The society was started with a revolving fund of Rs 6,000. Each SHG had
collected Rs 4,000 to purchase raw materials for preparing fodder and prepared three tonne fodder in the beginning. “No we prepare 16 tonne fodder. In the last nine months, we have posted Rs 74,000 profit,” said Rose Mary.
“We share 50 per cent of the amount fetched from the sale of fodder among ourselves and save the remaining 50 per cent of the amount. We spend two hours for preparing fodder,” she said.
The SHG members also grow grass with the support of Dakshina Kannada
Milk Producers Union officer D S Hegde.
Veterinary doctor Dr Vasanth Shetty, dairy farmer Antony D’Souza are also engaged in providing guidance to the women.
“There is a great demand for grass. Hence, the market is always open to us. We started the society by procuring 24 litre milk, but now it has increased to 700 litres,” said Rao.