Farmers’ library resource for capacity building: Dr Gill

In a significant step towards promoting good farming practices in the Livestock and Agricultural sector, a farmers’ library was inaugurated at Mushkabad FAM Dairy Producer Company Limited, Mushkabad village here.

The innovative approach was executed under the leadership of Dr JPS Gill, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana.

Dr Gill said by visiting the farmers’ library and after reading the farm literature, one would come to know about the latest scientific recommendations of universities, which would help in enhancing knowledge of farmers, thereby increasing productivity.

The library has been opened under a research project, ‘Promotion of Farmers Producer Organisation (FPO) on Dairy Farming in Ludhiana district’, operational under the Directorate of Extension Education and funded by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Major farm publications of GADVASU and Punjab Agricultural University have been distributed among the FPO. The library had already subscribed to farm magazines – ‘Vigiyanak Pashu Palan’ and ‘Changi Kheti’ — for five years.

Sanjeev Kumar, DDM, NABARD (Ludhiana cluster), said the FPO was one of the major initiatives of the Central Government, which could help the farmers to organise themselves into a group, provides a business outlook to the farming system, links the growers with the market to improve their socio-economic level. NABARD was providing financial hand-held support to the farming community.

Dr Rajesh Kasrija, Principal Investigator, said the FPO had been registered under the Indian Company Act. The FPO was mainly working in the dairy and vegetable sectors and had 170 shareholders.

He said a training regarding value addition of milk products would be organised for the Board of Directors of the FPO and value added milk products would be made and

sold by the farming community. Davinder Singh, Board of Director, and Jasdeep Singh, CEO of FPO from Mushkabad village, helped in smooth conduct of the programme.