Bike modified in Anand helps farmers in Kerala!

Anand: An innovation developed in Anand is helping farmers in procuring milk in villages in the rural heartland of Kerala’s Kottayam district.
As the herd size in Kerala has started increasing, the milk unions in the Southern state are facing a peculiar problem – that of professionals who can milk milch animals.

‘Milk-o-bike’ – developed by Anand-based IDMC Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NDDB has become a boon for the dairy farmers there.

“Earlier, farmers used to own one or two cattle. Now, while the number of farmers engaged in animal husbandry has declined, the size of the herd they own has grown. This had posed a challenge before us as professional milkers were required to milk the animals,” said Dr M Muraleedhara Das, managing director of Ernakulam Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited.

The professional milkers used to charge Rs 2,000 per month per cow from the farmers for milking the cattle.

“But IDMC which developed the ‘Milk-o-bike’ which has double bucket milking machines attached to a Hero Honda bike, gave it to us free for trial run. Now, milk is collected at Rs 20 per animal per day which turns out to be Rs 600 per month,” said Dr George Thomas, manager (procurement and inputs) at the Ernakulam milk union.

Buoyed by the success of this innovating way of milking cattle, the milk union has also requested IDMC to develop a diesel generation set which can be used at the time of power failures.

“This innovation can be further modified whereby such milking machines along with diesel generation sets are attached with auto rickshaw or scooters which are easy for women to drive,” he said, adding that a women self-help groups has also evinced interest in running such three-wheelers which can turn into a ‘win-win’ situation both for the milk producers and women who can eventually make an earning out of the supply chain.

Ernakulam milk union was one of the 21 recipients of NDDB Innovations Awards that were conferred on Friday. Twelve lady extension officers were also awarded for their exemplary work in empowering women through dairying during the function.