Generating income and improving animal health:GHCL Foundation’s duo for rural development

Ahmedabad :  Animal Husbandry is a preferred source of secondary income for many farmers. In fact, integrating animal husbandry with agriculture is the key principle of organic farming which is being followed by many farmers. However, little or no awareness is available to the farmers about the benefits, precautions and techniques required to maintain the health and hygiene of animals.

GHCL Foundation is working with the farmers of Gir Somnath (Sutrapada, Talala & Veraval Block), Kutchh (Mandavi Block) and Amreli (Rajula, Jafrabad, Khambha Block) in Gujarat. The Foundation is providing them financial and medical assistance, seeds for fodder, and resources for better animal husbandry. Though it has been a comparatively short time of GHCL Foundation’s presence in Kutch, an investment of close to Rs. 34 Lakhs has been made to improve the conditions of small scale farmers doing animal husbandry and agriculture.

Veterinary Camps

The Foundation started with 7 treatment camps for milch animals in the year 2014 in Sutrapada. It spent Rs.2, 64,912 and treated 12,060 animals. By 2022-23, the number of camps rose to 244, the spends increased by almost 80% to Rs. 71, 76,511 and 1, 86,040 animals were treated.

Through these camps, The Foundation offers maximum support to farmers and provides them aid to overcome financial adversities. Veterinary experts provide guidance and medicines free of cost to the farmers.

Special assistance for vaccination is provided to prevent the spread of various diseases among cattle such as the recent Foot & Mouth Disease and  Lumpy Skin Disease. In Bada village in Kutch district a vaccination campaign for foot & mouth disease was conducted and more than 2000 animal were inoculated. Two veterinary experts have been hired by the Foundation to ensure that healthcare for animals is accessible to all farmers involved in animal husbandry in the region.

Balanced nutrition for animals

It was observed that many farmers use cotton cake & rice bran only as a cattle feed which results in several deficiencies in the animals. To overcome this problem, GHCL Foundation provides balanced nutritional feeds manufactured by Amul, Godrej and other reputed brands to over 23000 farmers. Besides seeds of multicut sorghum, bajara etc.( having higher yield and better nutritional value) are provided to the farmers so that they have recurring yields of high nutrition fodder. So far, a sum of Rs 23, 28,871 has been invested in providing fodder seeds. These initiatives have also been extended to Bada region in Kutch. In the last three months itself, 661.96 metric tons of fodder has been distributed, in 15 villages, benefitting 2000 farmers and 10,225 cattle.

Infertility and artificial insemination

To treat infertility in the animals, artificial insemination camps are organized. Initially, breed improvement activities for Gir cows & Jafarabadi buffaloes was started in association with BAIF Development Research Foundation. Starting with 1012 animals in 2012, The Foundation has inseminated about 14,000 animals over these years. However, the need for artificial insemination has reduced over the period of time.

At GHCL’s Lignite division in Bhawnagar, an investment of Rs.4.4 lac has been made to provide support for fodder seeds to 145 farmers and supplementary nutrition to 736. Besides, 8 animal treatment camps have been organized benefitting over 250 farmers and close to 3000 animals.

GHCL Foundation provides assistance to the tune of 90 to 100% of the financial requirement for small scale farmers. Many of these farmers include women from Self Help Groups, serving dual purpose of women empowerment and rural development. Through the Foundation’s support, farmers have a regular source of income and are able to provide better health and hygiene for their milch animals.

ABOUT GHCL

GHCL Limited is a well-diversified group with ascertained footprints in chemicals and spinning businesses. In chemicals, the company mainly manufactures Soda Ash that is a major raw material for detergents & glass industries and Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda). In textiles, the Company’s spinning units at Madurai, Tamil Nadu produce multiple varieties of fiber (yarn), which is sold to domestic consumers as well as exported worldwide.

At GHCL Ltd, sustainability is a core element of business strategy as defined under the aegis of ‘GHCL Way’ with its four pillars i.e. Responsible Stewardship, Social Inclusiveness, Promoting Relationship and Adding Value.  We are committed to working closely with our stakeholders at our various plant locations for promoting the agenda of sustainability underpinning on GHCL Ltd core values of Respect, Trust, Ownership and Integrated Teamwork.