A new densified fodder block plant was inaugurated yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Mr. K. P. Mohanan.
The new plant located in Muthalamada village in Kerala is owned by Kerala Feeds Limited (KFL), a company that works under the Kerala State government.
The new plant is to manufacturer fodder mixtures enriched with protein and minerals. It will improve the use of low quality fodder materials like paddy and wheat husk, Kerala Feeds Managing Director, Dr Ani S Das explained.
Das said that 70 per cent of cost of production of milk was for cattle feed alone. Kerala Feeds employed internationally acclaimed least cost formulation (LCF) software for feed manufacturing process. This reduced the cost of the manufactured feed, without compromising the quality.
He said by the end of this year, the production capacity of KFL would be 2,000 tonne per day. As part of the 'Idukki package' recommended by the M.S. Swaminathan Commission, a high-tech feed plant with 300 MT capacity would be started at a cost of Rs.60 crore at Thodupuzha in Idukki district.
Dr. Das said the KFL had plans to undertake a project with the support of Union Ministry of Women and Child Welfare to distribute goats to 10,000 women in the State for the uplift of women and children of economically backward segments in the society. He said though the cattle population in Kerala had drastically come down to 14.72 lakh in 2011 from 17.4 lakh in 2008, there was a remarkable increase in goat and rabbit population. Lack of good quality and specific feed for these animals was a constant set back for the farmers rearing them. It was then that the KFL decided to start a goat and rabbit pellet feed manufacturing unit.
It was also setting up a Urea Molasses Multimineral Block (UMMB) plant for utilising poor quality roughages, a constant problem for farmers.
