Rishi Baral

Pokhara, July 2:

The Animal Development Farm (ADF) of Pokhara is to produce feed for its cattle from the beginning of the next fiscal year. The necessary equipment have already been fixed for the purpose, informed Dan Bahadur Singh, chief of ADF. He said that the farm took this decision as it was spending 75 per cent of its income on animal feed. He said that the farm would start the production of poultry and pig feed from next year. The farm has an average annual income of Rs 6.5 million from the sale of piglets, chickens, kids and milk, while its expense adds up to more than Rs 10 million, informed chief Singh.

He said that if the farm produces animal feed itself, the feed purchase cost would go down by 50 per cent. He added that the office has been facing a loss of three million rupees in feed purchase. The farm has been producing more than 100 litres of milk daily and farmers buy the milk from the farm for Rs 24 per litre. Maize, mustard cake, soybean and paddy husk have also been collected for feed production. The farm was first established as Sheep Centre in 1960 in collaboration with the government and New Zealand government and was later changed to Animal Development Farm in 1969 AD.

GTZ extended help in infrastructure development in 1990 AD for buffalo, pig, sheep and poultry farming and grazing development programmes. The farm currently is involved in the production and distribution of high-quality animals and seeds and provides trainings to farmers as well as technicians, informed chief Singh. There are 87 employees in the farm to look after buffalo, pig, sheep and poultry farming while the farm has 2,000 chicken, 165 buffaloes, 45 pigs and 50 sheep as well as some cows. The farm is spread over 124 hectares of land at Chine Daanda of Pokhara-18. Chief Singh said that the grazing area lessened after part of the farmland was given over for the airport, landfill site and armed police force

training centre.