Banaskantha (Gujarat): Kanuben Patel of Banaskantha district of Gujarat has been awarded for her achievement in the field of animal husbandry.
Kanuben Patel of Charada village in Dhanera taluka of Banaskantha district sources milk worth Rs. 8 lakh from her cows and buffaloes every month. For this, she has been honoured as the 'Best Pastor' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on women's day this year.
The lady cattle breeder, Kanuben Patel was also felicitated for achieving high milk production in 2017. She was also felicitated by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on this Republic Day.
Today, Kanuben owns more than 80 hybrid cows and 40 buffaloes which produce 1000 litres of milk every day. She supplies them to the Banas dairy and earns Rs 8 lakh every month.
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According to reports, when she had less number of cattle, she used to supply milk to the village’s collection centre. Now, a collection centre has been set up near her farm and she can supply milk to the dairy twice. Kanuben has received several awards for her contribution to the rural economy. These include Banas Laxmi Award of 2016, Best woman milk producer award from NDDB in 2017, the award of animal veteran and best animal care award from the Arbuda Youth Foundation.
For years, the people of Banaskantha district had been doing farming for their own and family’s livelihood. But after farming became a loss-making proposition, they started rearing milch cattle. To give them a better price for milk, Banas cooperative dairy, the biggest one in Asia, was set up. This encouraged more and more farmers to turn to animal husbandry.
Inspired by Kanuben’s success, many farmers of her village have also taken up animal husbandry. She has become the largest milk producer of Gujarat.
