Cynthia Rodrigues

The BAIF Development Research Foundation, with support from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, is translating the message of rural development into action

The mural that greets you as you enter the sprawling campus of the BAIF Development Research Foundation in Warje, Pune, is an expression of Mahatma Gandhi's vision of rural India. As you look keenly at the profusion of colour that captures your eye, you see a bustling rural economy. The landscape is dotted with scenes of children at school, a flourishing bazaar etc. Trades like pottery, basket making are also represented.

There is no place here for fancy gimmicks and impressive infrastructure. Only a serene air of contentment pervades the scene. Each person is contributing to the best of his ability; each is benefiting from the well-deserved progress. It takes a village to show how much is possible. Although the scene appears too far-fetched to be true, but it is a reality that is being replicated across the country.

Ayodhya Singh of Uttar Pradesh is a farmer, who owns six full-grown cows and two heifers. One of these cows, a home-born Holstein Friesian (HF) cross, yielded 4575 litres of milk. The family sells 50-60 litres of milk daily at Rs 15 per litre.

Singh is part of a growing class of people whose lives have been scripted anew, thanks to the initiative and assistance of BAIF. Established in 1967, Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (now renamed BAIF Development Research Foundation) was a novel experiment in rural development. Its founder, noted Gandhian Dr Manibhai Desai, was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to commit his life to the service of rural India. Motivated by the Mahatma, Dr Desai vowed "to lay his ashes in Urulikanchan," a backward village near Pune, which formed the setting for a quiet revolution.

Over the years, the organisation has grown tremendously. Supported by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, among other donors, it seeks to create opportunities for self-employment, enrich the environment, improve the quality of life and ensure good human values. To fulfill its mission, it conducts activities such as dairy husbandry, livestock development, community health, women's development, water resources development, land reclamation and tribal rehabilitation.

Of these, activities revolving around dairy husbandry and livestock development have improved the lot of over 10,000 villages in seven states. Through them, BAIF has helped the indigent farmer to step out of his poverty and eke a decent livelihood for himself.

Dr N. G. Hegde, president, BAIF, clarifies, "We address two kinds of poverty: mental poverty and poverty of resource. BAIF encourages initiative. We counter the farmer's resignation with education. It costs Rs 20 per day to maintain a cow. However, the farmer is only able to earn Rs 10 to 12. BAIF breeds cows with better quality germplasm, who can then produce massive quantities of milk. So far 10 lakh families at 950 centres have benefited." These centres are in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (including Uttaranchal).

In a milieu in which land, water and forestry resources are the exclusive preserve of the landed gentry, the farmer is forced to rely on his livestock to see him through. However, the quality of the cattle he owns is so poor that the farmer sees them as liabilities owing to the high cost of maintaining them and the poor returns. As the cattle languish for want of care, it is no surprise that even though India has the largest cattle population in the world, the average milk yield is less than 600 kg per lactation. In contrast, the national milk production of Israel is 10,000 litres.

Severe genetic erosion and acute shortage of fodder resources have further compounded the problem. The natural services performed by nondescript bulls leads to further damage. The neglected mixed breed suffers from a decrease in milk production.

Realising the extent of the damage, Dr Desai crossbred local cows with exotic dairy breeds such as HF (low calorie, high volume milk) and Jersey (high calorie) to produce progeny able to produce 10 times more milk than their local nondescript mothers.

The success of the experiment led to the launch of the Dairy Cattle Development programme in 1967. Under this programme, a mix of genetic improvement, health care and nutrition, rural farmers offered their low productive cattle to be bred with high milk yielding superior breeds.

Today the BAIF Central Research Station (CRS) at Urulikanchan maintains animals of cow breeds like Jersey, HF, Gir, Sahiwal, Dangi, Amratmahal and Hallikar; buffaloes like Surti, Murrah and Jafrabadi; and goats like Sirohi, Osmanabadi, Jamnapari and Barbari. It also hosts a bull station, an animal genetics laboratory and an exotic bull mother farm, which maintains international standards for record keeping, health and sanitary conditions. The farm was set up in 1970 with the import of 200 and 150 heifers from Denmark and Canada respectively. These animals were bred with semen of outstanding superior sires from different countries and subjected to rigorous tests for selection, based on body type, udder placement, high milk and fat yields, and tolerance to heat stress.

Dr S. B. Gokhale, vice president, BAIF, and head of CRS, explains, "Since the land available for grazing is less, the farmer needs a high potential cow. With such a cow it becomes economically feasible for the farmer to feed the animal at high cost and gain a high yield."

The ISO 9002 certified semen freezing laboratory now produces over two million doses of frozen semen annually. About 0.8 million doses are used by BAIF; the rest are sent to other organisations engaged in dairy development.

Maintained in disease-free condition in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees C, the semen is carried by artificial insemination (AI) technicians to the doorsteps of thousands of farmers. Some of these youths are graduates or diploma-holders in Agriculture or Animal Science. But the ranks of technicians have also been swelled by the presence of school dropouts. These young men and women now have an opportunity to contribute to the economy. Travelling on motorcycles with the equipment, besides frozen semen, literature, vaccines, etc the technicians render various services to the farmers, in return for a small fee.

Dairy husbandry has also given women an opportunity to earn a steady income and to improve their status in the rural setup. A number of women have assumed the role of AI technicians, thanks to the encouragement of their families and the community. BAIF has trained them in AI, pregnancy diagnosis, vaccination and management of milch animals.

"This system enables farmers to avail of the best services at competitive prices, while offering a means of livelihood to the self-employed youths. The farmers even refer to them as doctors," jokes Dr Hegde, adding, "We have also discovered that people with lower qualifications do better jobs. AI technicians demystify the learning for the farmer."

Since the establishment of BAIF, 2.73 million conceptions have been recorded and about 0.6 million cows and buffaloes are under milk production. Farmers can now use their uneconomic low yielding cattle to produce high yielding cows. These crossbreeds mature early (at 28-32 months) and produce about 2200-2700 kg milk per lactation. Families maintaining 2-3 cows can come out of poverty as they have enough milk for consumption and sale. When they need money, they sell the cows of inferior worth. Farmers must pay for the services. "In our experience," says Dr Desai, "farmers don't value any service that is free. The farmer is a practical man. He is willing to pay for those services from which he expects to gain."

A batch of young bulls is selected every year at Urulikanchan for progeny testing. The genetic potential of these bulls is assessed and proven sires are selected for further breeding. Regular health checkups are also conducted.

CRS' other activities revolve around embryo transfer and advanced biotechnology facilities, besides research in non-conventional forage and feeds. BAIF has developed low cost complete feed and introduced hardy forage crops suitable for wastelands. Thanks to the cultivation of fodder on wastelands, feeding of mineral mixture and agricultural wastes to cattle, the farmer can reduce the cost of milk production and improve his profits.

Embryo transfer technology has also done much to ease the farmers' troubles. This transfer hinges on the selection of Gir, crossbred cattle and Jafrabadi buffalo breeds as donors. These breeds are known for their milk yielding capacity. When a cow ovulates, the embryos are sucked out and harvested into inferior cows. "We take care to ensure that the surrogate mothers are of the same type as the donor mother to ensure that the embryos can thrive in the new environment," says Dr Gokhale. The equipment required for this operation, consisting of hormones, plasticware and medium, costs Rs 16,000. CRS is currently conducting research into whether the cost can be reduced to Rs 5000.

BAIF has established an Embryo Transfer Technology Laboratory at CRS to ensure genetic improvement of livestock. It is equipped with facilities for collection, freezing and transfer of embryos, in vitro fertilisation and micro-manipulation.

The technology is also useful for conserving the precious native breeds of cattle and buffaloes. In the absence of genetically superior males of pure native breeds, conservation is difficult. The use of fresh/frozen embryos helps boost the pace at which the breed is genetically upgraded while sustaining the interest of farmers.

"In India, almost all the semen freezing laboratories, except BAIF, are funded by Government even to cover the operating expenses. As BAIF is operating this laboratory through sale of semen, there is serious limitation for introducing modern technologies to improve the quality of the semen and embryos. At this juncture, the timely support from Sir Dorabji Tata Trust enabled BAIF to bring latest technologies from France and other developed countries and provide both semen and embryos of superior quality at a competitive price to the farmers. The support also helped us to enhance our semen processing capacity, which in turn will benefit our farmers," says Dr Hegde.

"The support also helped us to enhance our semen processing capacity, which in turn would benefit our farmers. For the first time in the country, BAIF stressed the use Embryo Transfer Technology to conserve the native breeds. Fortunately, the Trust supported the initiative of conserving native breeds" Dr Hegde adds, gratefully.

BAIF also promotes stall-feeding in order to reduce the burden on pasturelands and facilitate the regeneration of overgrazed pastures.

The resultant improved feeding of cattle leads to an increase in dung production, thereby enhancing the production of manure and promoting eco-friendly agriculture. The farmers too prefer to stallfeed as the animals are expensive and sensitive to harsh conditions.

These methods have effectively contributed to the fulfillment of its mission. BAIF, however, believes that much more needs to be done. In spite of having proven its commitment to helping the Indian farmer out of his poverty, it is constantly on the lookout for opportunities and resources to further strengthen the rural economy.

Nearly 37 years after its inception, the organisation that was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi continues to take significant strides towards the goal of Gram Swarajya.

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	Under the shade of the Banyan:	The Sir Ratan Tata Trust has been helping Banyan, a non-government organisation based in Chennai, care for and rehabilitate mentally-ill women

Uploaded on September 3, 2004