Stated to be the first of its kind in Telangana, the Karimnagar Milk Producer Company Limited formally launched the preparation of corn silage on its premises in Karimnagar town on Saturday.
Karimnagar MP B. Vinod Kumar formally launched the operation by cutting the maize crop into fodder. Karimnagar Dairy chairman Ch. Rajeshwara Rao, managing director Shankar Reddy, TRS district president Eda Shankar Reddy and others were also present.
In order to educate the farming community about the importance of green fodder during the summer season, Karimnagar Dairy had taken up the preparation of corn silage on an experimental basis. They cultivated maize in four acres of land and prepared corn fodder and stored it in bunkers. Maize is chopped and stored in bunkers by mixing molasses, salt and other nutrients. After the fermentation of the fodder for 45 days, it is used as green fodder for milch animals for better yield of milk.
The Karimnagar MP urged the Karimnagar Dairy authorities to increase the milk production to five lakh litres per day in the coming two to three years to meet the growing demand in the Telangana and Hyderabad in particular. He also suggested that the dairy authorities increase the number of milk-producing farmers, along with milk production. He said that there would be good demand for milk and meat and called upon farmers to go in for dairy and sheep rearing as the best alternative income source along with agriculture.
Karimnagar Dairy chairman Ch. Rajeshwara Rao said that dairy units would reduce suicides among the farming community. He said that farmers do not have fixed rates for their produce – paddy, cotton and even vegetables. Milk has a fixed rate and farmers can earn throughout the year, he added.
