Bayalpudi Anil Kumar is a chemistry graduate, with two years of experience at a private chemical firm. Unhappy with it, he moved out to start a dairy farm, providing fresh and unadulterated milk to the community. Initially, he set up a dairy unit with two animals and later scaled up to eight. With this increase in livestock, seasonal diseases, marketing difficulties, and the high mortality rate in calves have also seen a steep rise. Anil did not see this coming. His dairy production was halted, but just then he learnt about the Entrepreneurship Development Programme in Dairy Farming at SEEDS through social media.
Having enrolled for it and successfully completing two weeks of residential training, Anil expanded his dairy unit of eight animals to 26. He now provides direct employment to six households and indirect employment to 15! The farm entrepreneur not just supplies 86 litres of milk at Rs. 60 per litre today but even started a backyard poultry unit with minimal investment. With less than one-hectare land, he makes a net income of Rs. 75,000 per month.
“Two weeks of practical and theoretical sessions, visits to successfully-run dairy units, veterinary hospitals, exposure about marketing techniques, along with the simple and necessary precautions to be taken to decrease the animal mortality rates have helped me a lot ! ” says Anil and thanked SEEDS.
Anil’s story best explains farm-income diversification that ensures self-sufficiency and minimises risk. Today, many of his friends are inspired by his success and wish to follow him.
“I am a chemistry graduate and two years down the line working in an industry, I wanted to return to my village and start my own diary farm. The SEEDS rural entrepreneurship program helped me and guided me to achieve self sufficiency and helped me to earn about 75000 INR per month.”
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