Call to resume distribution of dry cattle fodder

In the scheme a kilogram of dry fodder was distributed to the farmers at a  cost of just Rs 2 and farmers thanked the government for the scheme as they felt that it would save their cattle from starvation. However, the scheme had not been continued for the past two weeks and farmers demanded the government to reintroduce it and resume distribution of dry fodder at a subsidised rate. 

Varadharajan, state vice president MDMK (Farmers Wing), said that the dry fodder scheme was a laudable scheme and a large number of farmers benefited from the scheme. The dry fodder to southern districts was brought from Salem and its adjoining areas and was distributed to farmers. 

However, for the past two weeks the dry fodder distribution had been stopped completely and it had taken a heavy toll on the farmers who could not feed their cattle due to crop failure. Hence, in times of drought, the state government should come forward to help the farmers by distributing fodder for them and so the scheme must be reintroduced, he demanded. It may be recalled that the state had suffered the worst drought in 2016. 

Both the monsoons failed leading to an agrarian crisis. Even the Central drought assessment team had declared more than 80 percentage of the districts in the state as drought hit. Under such circumstances the cattle fodder supply too was hit due to crop failure and cattle were on their verge of starvation.