AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

LIVE-STOCK

Live-stock occupies an important place in the agricultural economy of the district. The agronomy of the district is still dependent upon the live-stock, which continues to be a valuable possession of the farmer. Every farmer, who is economically sound, usuallv keeps a pair of bullocks, a few sheep, goats, cows and poultry. Bullocks and he-buffaloes are kept as draught or as breeding animals. Draught power required for agricultural operations such as ploughing. harrowing. drawing water for irrigation, transport, etc., is derived mainly from bullocks. Cows are a source of milk which is highly in demand. Live-stock also provides much of the organic manure used on the farms. Hence a pair of bullocks for draught and a cow or buffalo for milk and manure are to be commonly found with a large number of farmers. In rural areas a farmer's status is judged by the number of cattle maintained by him. In fact no farmer can do farming economically without the aid of live-stock. Table No. 24 gives statistics of bovine population in Buldhana district in 1966 and 1972, while table No. 25 gives a tahsilwise distribution of live-stock in Buldhana district in 1966 and 1972.

TABLE No. 24

BOVINE POPULATION IN BULDHANA DISTRICT IN 1966 AND 1972.

SOURCE: Socio-Eeonomic Review and District Statistical Abstract of Buldhana District, 1966 and 1972-73.

TABLE No. 25

DISTRIBUTION OF LIVE-STOCK IN BULDHANA DISTRICT (TAHSILWISE) IN
1966 AND 1972.

Bovines.—The live-stock in the district can be classified into bovine, ovine and poultry population. Horses, mules and asses also form an important class of the live-stock. Most of the animals arc of non-descript type. The only pure breed that has been introduced in the district is Khamgaon breed. Besides this breed, gaorani and ghat breeds are considered the most suitable in plains and in the hilly-tracts, respectively.

Khamgaon breed: The breed is found in Khamgaon, Malkapur and Jalgaon tahsils, where the soil is deep and heavy to work. The Khamgaon breed is the largest and strongest of the berar breeds, and is. therefore, well suited for heavy work on the black cotton sod. The typical Khamgaon bullock is a big strong ainmal with a coat of mixed colour's, the general colour is red or tanned red mixed with white, the red generally occurring in round spots which give the animal a mottled appearance. His hoofs, muzzle, horns, and the inside of his ears are of a chocolate colour. His forehead is broad and slightly convex, and the hump, well-developed. The horns are of medium length and rather thick at the base. The Khamgaon bullock is round in the barrel, and altogether a strong, massive animal. As a trotter he is perhaps inferior to the smaller Berar breeds, and his hoofs are softer and do not stand the wear and tear of the road so well. As a strong draught animal he is particularly well suited for areas where the soil is heavy to work.

Buffaloes: There are two breeds of buffaloes in the district, the Gaorani or Nagpuri breed and the Malwn breed. The buffaloes of Nagpuri breed are large animals with long horns which lie back over the neck; the Mahwa buffaloes are distinguished from the local breed by their smaller head and shorter horns. Gavalis and the farmers keep buffaloes in herds. Jowar stalks, grass and cotton seed are fed to them. If properly fed a good milch buffalo of the Nagpuri breed gives about 7to 8 litres of milk daily; but the average does not exceed half that amount.

Sheep and Goats: The sheep which are generally reared by the Dhangars in the district are non-descript animals and are usually kept for wool, skin and meat. Sheep and goats in herds of from one to two hundred are grazed on the fields of cultivators after the crop has been harvested. They are folded there at night so that the owner of the fields gets their droppings as manure for his fields in return for what they eat. The sheep rearing provides a profitable side business to the agriculturists. Its refuse serves as manure, and the milk can be used for domestic consumption. The meat of the goats, the skin and the wool of sheep, all these together supplement the agriculturist's income.

Horses, Mules and Asses: These animals are mainly used for the purpose of transport in the district. Horses are yoked to tongas. Ponies are maintained in the villages where bullock-carts are not easily available for transportation. Asses are mostly maintained by the Vadars to carry heavy loads like big stones, earth, etc.

Diseases of Cattle.— Epidemics among cattle are very common and as no care is taken to segregate diseased animals at the first appearance of an outbreak, infection spreads fast in a herd. The diseases most prevalent in the district are rinderpest, foot and mouth disease, malignant core-throat and pleuro-pneumonia. Other bovine ailments, such as hoven, diarrhoea and dysentery are common in the district.

Rinderpest is a disease common to all cattle, but young buffaloes especially are susceptible to it. An animal attacked by it generally dies within a week. The curative measure adopted by the owner is to feed the animal on ghee, mug pulse and rice water. Inoculation for rinderpest is practised. Foot and mouth disease is very common. The animal attacked by it is tied up in mud and dika-mali boiled in linseed or til oil is rubbedon the sores of the feet. If there are ulcers on the tongue, they are treated with alum powder. Should the hoofs split, the animal becomes lame for life but the disease is not often fatal.

The district neither exports nor imports live-stock. The main source of cattle supply to the farmers is weekly cattle markets, which are held at Asalgaon and Nirod in Jalgaon tahsil, Malka-pur and Nandura in Malkapur tahsil, Adgaon, Shegaon and Khamgaon in Khamgaon tahsil, Deulgaon Raja, Buldhana and Chikhli in Chikhli tahsil and at Mehkar. However some animals of pure breeds are imported from distant places in the State for use in key village centres and cattle breeding farms and improving the local progeny at farms.

Fodder Supply.— The district is self-sufficient in fodder-supply. The cultivators produce fodder in their farms. The fodder and cattle feed consist mainly of kadba, grass stalks from groundnut crop, kutar prepared from the leaves and stalks of wheat, bajri, tur, udid, mug, etc. Udid grains, cotton seeds and groundnut cake are served as concentrated feeding to cattle.

Poultry.—Poultry is kept for meat and eggs. There is a wide scope for poultry development in the district. The total poultry population of the district was 1,02,608 in 1966 add 1,20,348 in 1972. It consists mainly of fowls and partyl of ducks. Most of the poultry birds kept in the district are of deshi and non-descript variety. However recently farmers were supplied a few cocks of White Leghorn variety for breeding and upgrading deshi poultry. There is no poultry experimental farm or poultry research station in the district. However, demonstration and propaganda work are carried on throughout the district by the District Animal Husbandry Officer and by veterinary-cum-extension officer for animal husbandry and subordinate staff at block-level. Gram-sevaks also play a useful role in carrying out the propaganda and demonstration work. There is a scheme of granting subsidies and loans from Block Development funds to interested poultry breeders for the construction of poultry houses, purchase of necessary equipments and birds, etc.

With a view to upgrading the local non-descript poultry birds, cocks of White Leghorn breed are sold on exchange basis to the poultry breeders. The implementation of the schemes of poultry development in the rural areas of the district has helped in replacing the local birds by pure breed, in imparting scientific and practical knowledge of poultry keeping to the villagers and in giving timely technical assistance of the stockmen and other officials of the Animal Husbandry department.

The following table gives the poultry figures in the district as per 1966 and 1972 live-stock census in each tahsil:—

TABLE No. 26

STATISTICS OF POULTRY IN BULDHANA DISTRICT.

The veterinary facilities and some important schemes of animal husbandry which are under implementation in the district are described in the following paragraphs:—

There are 13 full-fledged veterinary dispensaries located at the following places in the district: (1) Buldhana, (2) Chikhli, (3) Mehkar, (4) Khamgaon, (5) Shegaon, (6) Jalgaon, (7) Dasarkhed, (8) Motala, (9) Lonar, (10) Sangrampur, (11) Nandura, (12) Deul-gaon Raja, and (13) Malkapur. In order to give veterinary aid to the interior villages, 36 veterinary aid centres have also been established in the remote parts of the district. Treatment of animal diseases, control of epidemics, castration of scrub bulls and control and destruction of animal parasites are the main services rendered by these dispensaries.

The scheme of key village centre has been introduced in the district. The breeding bulls are located for selective breeding at key village centres, under the key village scheme. Natural services as well as artificial insemination methods are practised at these centres.

Bulls have also been located at different places for breeding purposes under the district premium bull scheme. Under this scheme a farmer, who purchases a bull approved by the Animal Husbandry department, is paid subsidy and maintenance subsidy per month for three years. Cattle development work is also taken up through the Gorakshan Sanstha at Khamgaon.

Dairy conditions.—Investigations carried out by the Dairy Development Commissioner, Nagpur Division, for the development of dairy industry in this district in July 1969 revealed that, the district has considerable scope for the development of dairy industry and that it is also suitable for permanent pastures, about 2.20 lakhs acres of land being under pastures with nutritious grasses. The investigation also revealed that with their proper development the dairy industry in the district would definitely reach a certain level of progress.

There are no distinct breeds of cattle in this district, but the local authorities have tried to introduce the breeds mixed with deoni, Hariyana and gaorani breeds of animals. Among the buffaloes Nagpuri, Ellichpuri and Hydrabadi breeds are more common in the district. Besides these, the number of non-descript type of animals are still larger in the district.

There are a few good cattle markets in the district at Asalgaon. Nirod, Malkapur. Nandura. Adgaon, Shegaon, Khamgaon, Deul-gaon Raja. Buldhana, Chikhli and Mehkar. with a large turnover of animals. Besides these markets the cattle are sold in almost all weekly village markets.

There are 22 co-operative dairy societies in this district. The following table gives the working of these societies in each tahsil in 1968-69: —

TABLE No. 27

MILK-SUPPLY SOCIETIES IN BULDHANA DISTRICT. 1968-69.

Of the 22 societies, 14 societies were not working properly and loans of Rs. 1,10,830.32 were outstanding against these societies. In addition there are many private milk suppliers in Buldhana district, as also a few organizations which distribute milk locally.

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