Goats Donated To Rural Women Farmers
Rural women farmers with the goats donated to them by Lions Club of Coimbatore under the aegis of the ‘Rotation Goat Rearing Scheme’ of the Veterinary University Training and Research Cenrtre, Tirupur. Club president S. Murugan (right) is in the picture. As part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Lions Club of Coimbatore, donated 50 goats to rural women farmers of Sukkampalayam and Kethanoor, at a function here on Wednesday.
President S. Murugan said the club was usually involved in activities like blood donations, medical and eye camps, conducting women empowerment programmes like tailoring, etc. “This is the first time we are involving in such a programme. We have donated 50 goats to rural women farmers under the aegis of the Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Tirupur, to mark the Golden Jubilee.”
Speaking on the scheme, R. Selvaraj, Associate Professor and Head of the centre, explained the uniqueness of the programme. “The ‘Rotational Goat Rearing Scheme’ was started in August 2002. Destitute women, widows and women living below the poverty line were identified in villages to be given a goat each. A female goat between the age of nine and 12 months is given to a woman to rear. When it is one-and-a-half years old, it becomes capable of increasing its progeny. The goat is capable of producing three kids a year,” he said.
The first kid should be returned to the centre, which in turn would be given to another deserving woman of another village. This way the scheme took on a rotational pattern. The rest of the kids could be reared by her or sold for a profit. This way, the woman was made economically independent. The scheme had empowered 300 women so far.
