In order to encourage dairy farmers to adopt new technologies for biogas plants, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has launched a Manure Management Initiative at the Mujkuva Dairy Cooperative Society (DCS) in Anand district on October 23.
Under NDDB’s Manure Management Initiative, biogas plants are installed by the dairy farmers in their backyard for producing gas to be used as cooking fuel.
The bio slurry produced from these biogas plants is primarily used by the farmers in their own field and surplus bio slurry gets sold to other farmers or converted in to organic fertilisers.
NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath, in presence of its Executive Director Meenesh Shah, Chairman of Mujkuva DCS Chiman Padhiyar, Chairman of Sakhi Khad Mandli Hema Padhiyar, Sarpanch Saroj Thakor Padhiyar among others, handed over biogas plants to women farmers at the event.
The newly-established Mujkuva Sakhi Khad Sahakari Mandli also received the NDDB’s trademark ‘Sudhan’ for manufacturing bio slurry-based organic fertilisers. A release from NDDB said, “About 150 women farmers of Mujkuva village have been sanctioned biogas plants for the next phase of the initiative. These are in addition to the 42 biogas plants installed earlier. In order to promote Ayurvedic Veterinary Medicine (AVM), medicinal plants were also distributed to women farmers.”
Mujkuva Sakhi Khad Sahakari Mandli — the country’s first women-led manure cooperative —which was earlier coordinating the management and sale of surplus bio slurry from women members, will now also take up slurry processing and manufacturing of organic fertiliser. NDDB’s Sudhan trademark will help the Mandli in creating an identity and ensuring quality of products.
Rath added that NDDB has started work on supporting two more similar projects in Begusarai district of Bihar and Cuttack district of Odisha.
