Goat rearing offers opportunities to rural women for regular cash income throughout the year under FdnF-SwS-SEVAI Project.

House hold goats reared  in Poompuhar region-goats receiver

SEVAI –NGO started a home-based goat rearing project for 100 women marginal farmers for the tsunami affected region of Poompuhar area with the support of FdnF-SwS.Four goats per family have been provided after preparing them with proper goat rearing training by goat rearing experts of SEVAI. The hand-holding support is also being given to the goats receiver women for better goat rearing management. Goat-rearing seems to be an example of a truly sustainable and far-reaching income generating activity. The beneficiaries themselves are in charge of managing the program.  Goat farming plays a prominent role in the rural economy in supplementing the income of rural household particularly the landless, marginal and small farmers. Goat is considered as poor man's cow and it is profitably reared with low investment under semi-intensive as well as the extensive systems of management. They provide quick return on account of their short generation intervals; Goats are the backbone of rural people's economy. SEVAI has been able to make an impact in the lives of poor communities. Having access to sustainable livelihood opportunities, the poor become less vulnerable to adverse natural and man-made forces. Livelihood is a tangible instrument around which rural poor people is organised, opportunities to deal with outside systems be created, and a greater impact on the fight against poverty be attained. SEVAI is guided by the principle that for the rural poor communities to be able to access opportunities for sustainable livelihoods, they must first be enabled. SEVAI adopts participatory processes in its work with the people, making available ideas and technologies in a manner that enhances the poor’s access to and control over their resources. These resources, in turn, aid in the improvement of their lives, in organising them into appropriate peoples’ institutions at various levels, to improve their bargaining power and in enhancing their ability to deal with mainstream systems and provide sustainability to the interventions. As rural poverty is so widespread and multifaceted, it is not possible for any single actor to make a significant dent on the problem merely on its own. Efforts will be sustainable only when made at multiple levels and in a scale that is significant. SEVAI strives to share its experiences with other development workers, recognizing the unfortunate fact that knowledge about processes in addressing rural poverty. This goat rearing project sets out to improve the socio-economic conditions of the tsunami-affected population in Poompuhar Region, including families headed by widows, by supporting goat rearing and the development of a profitable and sustainable goat-rearing income as Goat farming is an increasingly important livelihood activity in the tsunami affected Poompuhar area of Nagapatinam District, providing an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of income for poor women farmers. The resources available in the area for goat production and livestock rearing projects are gradually expanding. The goal of the goat project is two-fold: to provide families with a reliable income generation through the sale of baby goats. Goats have become steadily important in the rural economy Goats are among

mother goats provide milk to baby goats

the main meat producing animals in India, whose meat is one of the choicest meats and has huge domestic demand. Due to its good economic prospects, goat rearing under intensive and semi-intensive system for commercial production has been gaining momentum for the past couple of years. High demand for goat and its products with potential of good economic returns have been inviting many rural families. The emerging favourable market conditions and easy accessibility to improve goat technologies are also catching the attention of entrepreneurs. Goats, the small animals are cheaper to buy, compared to cow or buffalo, require less space, water and fodder and can be easily grazed even on tiny grasses and many varieties of leaves and weeds. The browsing habits of goats make them especially suited to consume stems and branches of tree species. They do not need costly external inputs like wheat bran and oil cakes those are required for cows and buffaloes. This type of small animals could be taken care even by aged persons. Without expensive inputs on these animals, they earn more in a year. Small animals are always more suitable than cows or buffaloes in poor’s farming system, as they are cheap and less risky. Goat rearing under this FdnF-SwS-SEVAI project offers opportunities to rural women for regular cash income throughout the year.-Govin