KOCHI: ‘Gosewa Samithi Kerala’ will open training centres in every district in the state to provide awareness on cattle conservation and to impart skills on the innovative products of cattle and their uses, Akhila Bharatiya Gosewa Pramukh Shankar Lal told reporters here. To put forward its agenda to conserve indigenous cows, the organisation will be sending a request to the state government to provide two bulls and one cow for every farmer, he said.“At the time of Independence we had a population of 35 crore. At that time the population of indigenous cows was 50 crore. Today the population is 125 crore and the strength of the indigenous cows is 10 crore. If the situation goes on we will not have any more indigenous cows in a few years,” Shankar Lal said. Stressing the need to conserve indigenous varieties of cows, the members said that the drive to promote cross bred western cows a few decades back has resulted in the decline of the indigenous varieties. “Thirty years ago when the government was providing sophisticated cross-bred western varieties of cows to our farmers many of us were on the forefront of the movement. But years later we now realise the move was an utter failure,” said Suresh Nair, retired veterinary professor and president of Gosewa. The farmers could not maintain these varieties. Many of them succumbed to diseases. Though they gave more milk, the expense of maintaining them was higher than the indigenous cows. The indigenous cows were a much better bet,” the vet said.
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