ALAPPUZHA:
Kerala Feeds is distributing at least two bags of free cattle feed in the first phase of its cow distribution scheme for the flood-affected dairy farmers of this coastal district, the PSU’s managing director Dr B Sreekumar said today.
The endeavour is in accordance with an ‘I am for Alleppey’campaign launched by the district administration, he noted after the inauguration of the company’s ‘Snehasparsham’ project that aims to provide relief for the state’s dairy farmers distressed by the deluge and landslides Kerala faced three months ago.
“It should be social commitment and not financial profit that should guide PSUs,” he said at the function where six cows were distributed under the ‘Donate A Cow’ programme. “That is how Kerala Feeds manages such charitable activities event amidst making loss.”
Kerala Feeds also distributed cattle feed and mineral mix under ‘Snehasparsham’.
‘I am for Alleppey’ is an initiative by Alappuzha district sub-collector Krishna Teja to help dairy farmers who lost their cattle in the catastrophe this monsoon. The scheme, being run by run by milk cooperative societies and the state government’s Dairy Development Board, has identified 131 beneficiaries and gifted cows to 40 among them.
Kerala Feeds chairman K S Indusekharan Nair, who inaugurated the district-level ‘Snehasparsham’ programme, said the Irinjalakuda-headquartered PSU has allocated cattle feed worth Rs 5.17 crore to the flood-affected dairy farmers of the state since the August calamity.
Teja, addressing the gathering, recalled that the district administration had rescued 1,200 cattle-heads during the floods. “The feed provided by Kerala Feeds kept them alive for three weeks. It saved the livelihood of several families who are dependent on cows,” he added.
Dr Sreekumar, in an interactive session with the dairy farmers, allayed their doubts and fears about cattle rearing. Any member of the cooperative societies is welcome to see the manufacturing activities at the plants of the 1995-founded Kerala Feeds, he added.
The function was attended by Dairy Development Department deputy director K G Sreelatha, additional directors R Aneesh Kumar and C D Sreelekha, and Kerala Feeds deputy manager Shine S Babu besides heads of milk cooperative societies and cattle farmers.
