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Ex-banker turned dairy farmer supplies pure cow milk and initiates fodder cultivation program to help neighboring farmers earn better
Koraput Dairy Farm in Odisha state is commercial integrated hi-tech dairy farm set by Mr. Gadadhar Parida in 2011 to encourage farmers take up integrated farming. Dairy is the main business of the farm at present but it has all the elements of an integrated farm such as fish farming, horticulture, bio-gas and so on. The dairy vertical of the farm is managed by Mr. Gadadhar’s son Mr. Anant Basudev, an ex-banker in Bangalore city now the farmer and agripreneur. Milk produced at the farm is pure and natural as the cattle are fed with green fodder grown within the farm using natural farming inputs. Mr. Anant gives a walkthrough on farm establishment, cattle breed, fodder, use of technology in the farm, milk sales, change in farmers’ lives in the vicinity through fodder cultivation program and future plans. Excerpts:
My father was working in the State Farmers Commission. He was working on the project to find reasons for farmers’ suicide. That study revealed that sticking to single crop and use of chemical fertilizers are the main causes for these suicides. The only solution to make farming profitable is to have an integrated farm and switch to chemical free farming. The project was close to him therefore post-retirement he bought a 15 acre farm and developed an integrated farm for the purpose of demonstrating the farming intricacies for the existing farmers. As I was very much involved in the concept and inclined to help my father in his endeavor to do something for the society I quite the corporate world and turned into a farmer, the decision I never regret!
We started with a mission to help farmers earn well in agriculture but we ourselves were naïve in the business. Therefore, initially I visited established dairy farms across the country and state veterinary department to collect all possible information. Then we associated ourselves with a German based company, pioneers in dairy technology. They trained us in all the aspects of dairy farming with respect to infrastructure, cattle management, feed formulation, milking and packaging etc. Once the farm was set up it was time to bring in the cows.
Initially we were told that high milk yielding Holstein Friesian (HF) Crossbreed cattle will not survive in climate of Odisha and as an alternative we must opt for indigenous or jersey cross breed. We then analyzed climate of other states where these breed survive well such as Tamil Nadu, Haryana with Odisha. We didn’t find much of the difference infact weather at Koraput Dairy is quite cool being located in Eastern Ghats. Hence we decided to start with 20 HF Crossbreed cattle sourced from Punjab.
We stringently followed the practice of feeding balanced mix of green fodder to our cows that is cultivated using natural farming inputs. Thereby the quality of milk produced was much superior hence we decided to sell milk under our own brand name through our own distribution system directly to the end users. It was the right decision taken over selling the milk to Odisha Milk Cooperative Federation! Selling milk to the cooperatives means realizing very less returns to what is actually deserved! Further we knew in future we had to expand our production capacity so it was wise to sell the milk on our own.
Milking is done at in-house automatic milk parlours without any human intervention. Milk is packed in ½ liter packs and sold under the brand name Koraput Dairy. Today we sell the milk at Rs. 44/liter through our own distribution network. The response received was overwhelming! We have increased the herd size from 20 to 100 cows.
With expansion in herd size we required more fodder. To meet the increased requirement we made the existing farmers in our neighboring areas as our fodder cultivation partners. We have 25 -30 farmers in our network. These farmers earlier were paddy farmers who used to make only Rs.10-15 thousands profits per year. We wanted to improve their livelihood hence we started this program that eventually turned out to be win-win for us as well as farmers. We provide them the seeds, manure (made at the farm using cow dung and urine) and farm implements as needed for cultivating the fodder. Later we buy-back the entire fodder produced at their respective farms. The fodder produced by the farmers is used as green fodder and also some portion is converted into silage that is stored in the bunkers for later consumption like in rainy/summer season. Farmers are earning much better working with us and they are happy!
Expansion is imperative for every business and so it is for us! By August 2017 we want to increase our herd size to 250 cows. And we will be making a foray into value added production like paneer, butter milk, ghee and so on. We are in process of setting up the milk processing unit having the production capacity of 3000 liters per day.
We have a sister concern company named AB Enterprises and in addition we soon shall foray into ecommerce with ‘Dairy Kart’. It shall be one stop solution to all dairy related requirements for establishing a dairy unit as well as dairy based products.
Farming is certainly a money minting occupation if done with dedication and determination to sustain. We faced many problems and challenges during the initial years but we learnt it to sail through with perseverance to excel. It was all the hard way but it played a vital role in the success we attained today!
(As told to Shweta Dhanuka)
Contact details:
Koraput Dairy Farm
At: Village Doliamba, GP: Mahadeiput GP, Koraput.
Mobile: +91-9668080888/+91-8763080888/+91-9861980888
Email: info@koraputdairy.com
Web: https://www.facebook.com/koraputdairy/ , http://www.koraputdairy.com/
Koraput Dairy Farm in Odisha state is commercial integrated hi-tech dairy farm set by Mr. Gadadhar Parida in 2011 to encourage farmers take up integrated farming. Dairy is the main business of the farm at present but it has all the elements of an integrated farm such as fish farming, horticulture, bio-gas and so on. The dairy vertical of the farm is managed by Mr. Gadadhar’s son Mr. Anant Basudev, an ex-banker in Bangalore city now the farmer and agripreneur. Milk produced at the farm is pure and natural as the cattle are fed with green fodder grown within the farm using natural farming inputs. Mr. Anant gives a walkthrough on farm establishment, cattle breed, fodder, use of technology in the farm, milk sales, change in farmers’ lives in the vicinity through fodder cultivation program and future plans. Excerpts:
My father was working in the State Farmers Commission. He was working on the project to find reasons for farmers’ suicide. That study revealed that sticking to single crop and use of chemical fertilizers are the main causes for these suicides. The only solution to make farming profitable is to have an integrated farm and switch to chemical free farming. The project was close to him therefore post-retirement he bought a 15 acre farm and developed an integrated farm for the purpose of demonstrating the farming intricacies for the existing farmers. As I was very much involved in the concept and inclined to help my father in his endeavor to do something for the society I quite the corporate world and turned into a farmer, the decision I never regret!
We started with a mission to help farmers earn well in agriculture but we ourselves were naïve in the business. Therefore, initially I visited established dairy farms across the country and state veterinary department to collect all possible information. Then we associated ourselves with a German based company, pioneers in dairy technology. They trained us in all the aspects of dairy farming with respect to infrastructure, cattle management, feed formulation, milking and packaging etc. Once the farm was set up it was time to bring in the cows.
Initially we were told that high milk yielding Holstein Friesian (HF) Crossbreed cattle will not survive in climate of Odisha and as an alternative we must opt for indigenous or jersey cross breed. We then analyzed climate of other states where these breed survive well such as Tamil Nadu, Haryana with Odisha. We didn’t find much of the difference infact weather at Koraput Dairy is quite cool being located in Eastern Ghats. Hence we decided to start with 20 HF Crossbreed cattle sourced from Punjab.
We stringently followed the practice of feeding balanced mix of green fodder to our cows that is cultivated using natural farming inputs. Thereby the quality of milk produced was much superior hence we decided to sell milk under our own brand name through our own distribution system directly to the end users. It was the right decision taken over selling the milk to Odisha Milk Cooperative Federation! Selling milk to the cooperatives means realizing very less returns to what is actually deserved! Further we knew in future we had to expand our production capacity so it was wise to sell the milk on our own.
Milking is done at in-house automatic milk parlours without any human intervention. Milk is packed in ½ liter packs and sold under the brand name Koraput Dairy. Today we sell the milk at Rs. 44/liter through our own distribution network. The response received was overwhelming! We have increased the herd size from 20 to 100 cows.
With expansion in herd size we required more fodder. To meet the increased requirement we made the existing farmers in our neighboring areas as our fodder cultivation partners. We have 25 -30 farmers in our network. These farmers earlier were paddy farmers who used to make only Rs.10-15 thousands profits per year. We wanted to improve their livelihood hence we started this program that eventually turned out to be win-win for us as well as farmers. We provide them the seeds, manure (made at the farm using cow dung and urine) and farm implements as needed for cultivating the fodder. Later we buy-back the entire fodder produced at their respective farms. The fodder produced by the farmers is used as green fodder and also some portion is converted into silage that is stored in the bunkers for later consumption like in rainy/summer season. Farmers are earning much better working with us and they are happy!
Expansion is imperative for every business and so it is for us! By August 2017 we want to increase our herd size to 250 cows. And we will be making a foray into value added production like paneer, butter milk, ghee and so on. We are in process of setting up the milk processing unit having the production capacity of 3000 liters per day.
We have a sister concern company named AB Enterprises and in addition we soon shall foray into ecommerce with ‘Dairy Kart’. It shall be one stop solution to all dairy related requirements for establishing a dairy unit as well as dairy based products.
Farming is certainly a money minting occupation if done with dedication and determination to sustain. We faced many problems and challenges during the initial years but we learnt it to sail through with perseverance to excel. It was all the hard way but it played a vital role in the success we attained today!
(As told to Shweta Dhanuka)
Contact details:
Koraput Dairy Farm
At: Village Doliamba, GP: Mahadeiput GP, Koraput.
Mobile: +91-9668080888/+91-8763080888/+91-9861980888
Email: info@koraputdairy.com
Web: https://www.facebook.com/koraputdairy/ , http://www.koraputdairy.com/
