Project title:
Livelihood security of Landless Livestock Farmers in Pondicherry: Search for a sustainable paradigm

This was a collaborative project of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension of Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (RAGACOVAS), Puducherry with the International and Rural Development Department, University of Reading, UK. The project has helped in projecting the importance of landless livestock farming (majority of whom are women) in the milk production of our country. The researches carried out identified the problems and prospects of this category of the disadvantaged. The second year of study focused on the gender dimension of landless cattle rearing. The third year focused on “Market Information systems” with special reference to landless and small holder cattle owners. All these activities have helped in placing the otherwise not so noticed section Landless cattle owners in the agenda of development.

Project title:
Improving animal Husbandry services for poor women through capacity building in gender awareness

The following major outputs are achieved:

1. Constraints preventing landless women rearing cattle to move out of poverty through cattle management were identified.
2. Capacity of the final year veterinary graduate students to address effectively the needs and constraints of women in landless livestock households was enhanced.
3. Publication of the training manual on Scientific Rearing of Dairy Cows.
4. Five flip books in Tamil on different aspects of cattle rearing were designed and distributed to various livestock development institutions.

The training manuals and the flip book on the scientific rearing of dairy cows prepared in Tamil were distributed to the Veterinary Institutions of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal welfare and the Milk Cooperative Societies of the Puducherry Cooperative Milk Union (PONLAIT) and NGOs – MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Bharatiya Agro Industries Research Foundations, Pune (BAIF) and ANTHRA, Andhra Pradesh. They also serve as training materials for various Banks and other developmental institutions involved in dairy development, in addition to farmers.

Project title:
Dissemination of Animal health Knowledge for development of landless dairy cattle owners in the peri-urban regions of Pondicherry, India

Under the project the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension of RAGACOVAS collaborated with International and Rural Development Department (IRDD) and the Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VVERU) at the University of Reading, UK.

The project focused on the survey among peri-urban landless cattle owners and their level of knowledge of cattle health issues in the first year. Various knowledge dissemination methods (folders, posters, Training programmes and touch screen kiosk) were designed based on need based information and tested for their use in knowledge dissemination in the second year.

An institutional level workshop was organized in March 2004 to disseminate the findings of the research and share the experiences with governmental and non-governmental personnel working in livestock development n different parts of India. The Deputy Director General (Extension), Indian Council of Agricultural Research of Animal Husbandry, State Agricultural Universities, Milk Unions, and Non Governmental Organizations participated in the workshop. Four folders (Bloat, Deworming, Mastitis and Tick infestation), a cattle health care manual and posters were prepared and distributed to various livestock development institutions.

The farmer usable Touch Screen Information Kiosk experimented in the veterinary dispensaries was the first of its kind in the Country. The Government of India appreciated the efforts and had directed the Directors of Animal Husbandry in various states to take efforts to benefit from the various media developed by RAGACOVAS, Puducherry. This received the National MANTHAN AWARD in 2005 for the best contents designed for the disadvantaged.

Accordingly, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India organized a National level workshop at RAGACOVAS on Sustainability of Livestock Production-appropriate dissemination methods for effective transfer of technology in February 2005.