100 Tribal Women Farmers Receive "Goat Loans" To Increase Their Profits

Around 100 tribal women farmers from Jawhar and Mokhada villages in Palghar availed goats on loan  from a Goat Bank to increase their profits and assist their families financially.

The scheme is offered in collaboration with Akola's 'Goat Bank of Karkheda,' which is administered by progressive farmer Naresh Deshmukh. The bank has partnered with the Department of Women and Child Development's State Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal to distribute goats to women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Around 100 women farmers started rearing goats, according to Vaidehi Wadhan, president of Palghar's Zilla Parishad.

A 'Goat loan' requires a payment of Rs 1,100 and the purchase of a goat, most likely a pregnant one. The buyer looks after the goat and her lambs for the next 40 months. Four lambs are to be returned to the bank over the course of 40 months. The returned lambs are then nurtured at the bank and sold to four additional ladies for Rs 1,100 each when they are old enough.

"We handed one pregnant goat, as well as a male goat (called bucks) with every ten female goats to the beneficiaries," Sunil Bhusara, MLA from Mokhada, explained, "and according to our estimations, any household taking a goat on loan under this scheme would receive a profit of roughly 2.5 lakh."

"A goat produces two or three offspring in seven to eight months," Vaidehi Wadhan said, "and if those offspring are well-nourished, they become productive in a year and are an excellent money-making choice for the ladies."

According to the 20th Cattle Census held in October 2018, India has 148.9 million goats, with Maharashtra having roughly 10.6 million goats, as per an official.

Everyone wants to start their own small business where they can earn more profit with little investment. In such a situation, if you are interested in animal husbandry, then goat farming can become a good source of earning for you. You don’t even need much investment & much knowledge to start with. In India, goat farming is not new, people in rural India have been rearing goats since time immemorial.