Lead India winner's dream taking shape

SONARI (SITAPUR): The most common sight in this village is of mud baked thatched huts, semi-clad children and poor in their tattered clothes. But Sonari, in neighbouring Sitapur district, inhabited mostly by poor marginal farmers, who strive extremely hard to make the two ends meet, is aspiring to become an epicentre of a revolution which the state has never witnessed in the past: Cooperative dairy farming.
Brain child of Lead India campaign (of The Times of India) winner RK Misra, the movement is potentially being pushed further forward by the Times Foundation and Sitapur district administration. "It was a dream which is now finally taking shape,'' says Misra, as he digs his hand on a heap of fodder meant for feeding cattle.
Supported by a grant of Rs 50 lakh from the Times Foundation after he won the Lead India campaign, Misra has already got in place the infrastructure -- a set of tin sheds constructed over 1 acre land -- and the cooperative society registered. The district administration, too, has chipped in and got roads, leading to the sheds, constructed. The administration would also got a bulk milk cooler of 2,000 litre capacity installed at the site where the milk would be stored before being routed into the open market.
But Misra knows that the job would still be not that easy. "The question is how to motivate the poor to become enterprising. We hope the plan to work once they see it happening,'' he says, claiming the project to become operational by mid-December.
The plan: The cooperative society would have members enrolled for a life membership fee of just Rs 55. Once enrolled, the members would get the opportunity to take loans from Allahabad Bank (with which the society has entered into an agreement) to buy cattle. "The idea is to enable these farmers to have an alternative source of earning. What better than dairy which can be all the year round,'' Misra said. However, it would be up to the farmers whether they milk their cattle in their home or bring it to the shed.
This sets up a mechanism by which farmers would be getting a day to day earning by selling the milk to the society and pay back the loan taken from the bank. On the other hand, the milk collected by this society would then be routed in the open market with the help of Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation (PCDF). No middlemen involved. The benefits goes straight into the pockets of the farmers.
"The market is good. Just that mechanism needs to be placed. Of course people are required to be motivated,'' said Manoj Chandra Sahi, general manager, Sitapur dairy unit of PCDF. He said that they would be taking up all the milk at an agreed price from the society.
The movement has already found some takers. As many as 50-odd farmers from around nine other villages surrounding Sonari have joined the society. Seventy-year-old Shambhu Dayal who recently bought a buffalo at a cost of Rs 32,000, has got it stationed at the shed. "Kyon nahin society mein shamil honge...isme faida to hai hi (Why would I not join the society. It's a profiting enterprise),'' he said when asked about the concept. Some more like Dayal are expected to become a part of cooperative within few days once things start working.
But there are still some who are wary of the total concept. Especially, the word "loan'' from banks. "What if the animal dies?'' asks Ramu Mishra who owns a pair of cattle. "There has to be some relaxation on interests, or we end up no where,'' he says.
RK Misra, however, has a mechanism in place here too. "We can get the animal insured. And that covers up all the apprehension,'' he said. He said that they also plan to set up a small vet clinic and a dedicated medicine shop for cattle within the premises. Moreover, an artificial insemination centre at the shed where by the breed of cows and buffaloes could be improved would also come up soon.