The Kerala government will bring in legislation to check adulteration of cattle feed so as to improve the product quality, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J Chinchurani has said.

The next session of the State Legislative Assembly will table the bill in this regard as part of the government’s efforts to check the prevalence of low-quality feed that has been harming the health of cattle, the Minister said while inaugurating a seminar series being organised by Kerala Feeds Ltd.

KFL, being a public-sector undertaking, ensures quality products through the use of the best available raw materials.

Speaking at a symposium on ‘Cattle-feed: Quality, Price, and Availability’, the Minister said Milma, as a co-operative society doing milk business, has not hiked the prices since 2019. To support dairy farmers, the government has issued a directive not to raise prices of the products till 2023.

She recalled that the Kisan Credit Card has already become mandatory for farmers, and she said the document makes them eligible for loans up to ₹20,000 to buy a cow. The government is facilitating a scheme where they can enjoy collateral-less loans up to ₹1.60 lakh at four per cent interest. Also, dairy farmers will be given incentives, with the money deposited directly into their bank accounts.

Farmer-empowerment programme

Further, the government is initiating a farmer-empowerment programme by issuing health cards and tags for cattle in a bid to strengthen the State’s dairy industry. The project will be launched in Pathanamthitta. It will be carried out in other districts if the model works successfully, Chinchurani said.

The State’s first milk-manufacturing plant will be commissioned by this year-end. The ₹58-crore factory at Moorkanad, near Malappuram, will be functional within six months. Simultaneously, the government is working towards grooming farms to grow silage grass, which is a high-moisture fodder. Also, semen for high milk-yielding hybrid cows is being made available on a large scale, she said.

KFL Managing Director B Sreekumar said the seminar series aims at creating awareness about the merits of KFL’s affordable products vis-à-vis those of private sector companies. The discourse will provide an interaction between fodder promoters and women cattle-care workers.