Name : Shri Arun Kumar Mahto
Address : Village-Guruchatti,P.O.-Barkagaon, District- Hazaribagh, Jharkhand
Sri Arun Kumar is a very hard working, persevering and a promising progressive farmer of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. After his completion of matriculate, he started supporting his father in farming activities due to lack of financial support from his family for continuing studies.The main source of their income were from vegetable (tomato, brinjal, chilli, okra, garden pea, cow pea, french beans, palak, raddish, carrot and onion) cultivation during rainy and winter season. But, the production was not satisfactory. He owned a pair of bullock for ploughing and carrying the farm goods. He had local cows which were producing 0.5 to 1 kg milk per day. The farm producing cow dung was used in agricultural operation. His dream was to rear a large number of cows and to supply milk in the local market. So, he concentrated on keeping crossbreed cows. He started producing fodder for animals from his existing land.
One day his cow became sick and he tried to give her treatment from local para-veterinary staff. The person charged Rs. 150/- which was a big amount to bear at that time. Then, he thought to become a para-veterinary staff. Under TRYSEM, he opted for para veterinary training and thus, he got opportunity to get admission in Holy Cross Hazaribag KVK during the year 1991. After completion of the course, he started to treat animals in his village and gained good reputation. The treatment of cattle became his main source of earning which ranged between Rs. 3000 to 4000 per months during that time. The cows were looked after by his parents and in the due course of time, he was able to add sufficient money to replace their local cows with a pair of crossbred cows in 1995. This generated new source of income by selling milk in the village. Besides, he approached nationalized bank (Bank of India) and got sanctioned a loan amounting Rs. 20,000/- for establishing mini dairy unit. At the beginning of 1998, he was able to maintain 4 cross bred cows (3 milch + 1 dry) which was increased by 15 cows by the end of the year 2011. In the meantime, he was trained for artificial insemination (AI) from BAIF. He practiced AI in his locality and nearby villagers which resulted additional income. For proper feeding, housing, breeding and health management, he engaged three daily labourers in addition to his own two family members for all operations. In the year 2011, he was able to afford his son to send for B. Tech course in Electrical and Electronic engineering at New Delhi. The daily total milk production from 18 crossbred cows of his farm were around 200 litres which resulted a gross annual income of Rs. 21.6 lakhs. He further expanded his dairy farm. With the income from milk sale, treatment of animals and artificial insemination practice he purchased a chaff cutter, 10 HP diesel pump, grinding machine, motor bike, power tiller, water lifting pump and 0.07 acre land. He spent Rs. 5 lakhs for the marriage of his daughter.
Mr.Arun Kumar Mahto is an eye opener of many dairy farmers in the district who is not only running a medium sized dairy farm with an annual net income of 7.5 lakhs but also earning 1.5 lakhs per annum through animal treatment and artificial insemination in the locality. The ATMA Hazaribag awarded him for the production of green fodder round the year. As a result, 50 other families in the village started dairy farming which are financed by different Nationalised Banks (Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, SBI etc.) through Dairy Development Department.
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