PATHANAMTHITTA:
Kerala Feeds Ltd will facilitate low – interest loans to help dairy farmers in the state to buy cows and develop facilities such as farm and cowsheds, the PSU’s Managing Director Dr B Sreekumar announced here today.
Dr Sreekumar said “an agreement has been reached between KFL and the bank to provide loans at 8.9 percent interest for those farmers who apply for it via Kerala Feeds.”He was speaking at the launch of ‘ Snehasparsham’ project at Thiruvalla, an endeavour initiated to help the flood-hit dairy farmers by distributing 100 sacks of cattle feed, free of cost. The beneficiaries of the scheme are selected by the representatives of the Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry departments.
Inaugurating the project, K S Indusekharan Nair, Chairman, Kerala Feeds Ltd, said that the PSU also aims at achieving self – sufficiency in the production of cattle feed. Noting that interests of dairy farmers has always been the priority for KFL, he said there will not be any compromise on the quality of the cattle feed. “Keeping this objective in mind, Kerala Feeds also manufactures medicines for cows in its plant,” he noted.
Dr Sreekumar said that though there is ample mechanism to ensure the quality of food items, there’s hardly any system in place to check the quality of cattle feed. “This will change for the better once the legislative assembly passes the proposed Feed Act,” he said. Since milk is an essential item in daily life, it is important to ensure its quality and Kerala Feeds is the only company that’s endowed with the facilities to ensure the quality check of the milk,” he noted.
It’s the Kerala Feeds that controls the price in the cattle feed market. “Though running on loss, our commitment towards the dairy farmers does not allow us to raise the price and compensate for the loss,” he said. Dr Sreekumar also responded to the questions raised by the farmers during the function.
Silvy Mathew presented the Annual report of the Dairy Development Department. The function was also attended by Deputy Quality Control officer M T Usha Kumari, Assistant Director Sujatha P L and Kerala Feeds Deputy Manager Shine S Babu.
