Daltonganj: The district administration has grinding plant for goat feed in Ramgarh block of the district. The plant, set up under Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana, will produce 300 kg goat feed daily and will provide employment to 21 women particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG), officials said.Palamu deputy commissioner Sameera S, along with other officials, inuagurated the plant on Sunday.“The plant is electricity-driven. The plant will help PVTGs overcome the feed deficiency for goats,” said Himanshu Lal, IAS on probation. “Goats are like their ATM card. It brings them instant money. They sell it in their exigency, like health care or during pregnancy or delivery or even for a feast,” said a functionary of the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS).Sumeet Kumar, the block programme manager of of JSLPS, said a self-help group of 21 PVTG women will run and maintain this goat feed unit. “The SHGs also carry out vaccination of livestock and other works,” Kumar said, adding that the plant has been set up with a cost of around Rs 2 lakh.The ingredients used for making goat are paddy husk, maize, mustard cake, wheat, pulses, salt, and mineral mixture. Depending on the size and weight of the goat, their feed range between 50gm to 150 gm per day. “This feed will be in addition to their grazing to add nutrient intake,” Lal said.There are 1,370 PVTG households in Ramgarh. The block has 31 hamlets of the PVTG, mostly Parhaiya group. DC has urged PVTGs to take advantage of the new facility.DDC Md Jawed Hussain said that the district administration launched UDAY (Unnati Doorasth Adivasi Yojana) as a major initiative to bridge the gap between the govt administration and isolated forested life of tribal remaining off the mainstream for economic growth and security. Sources said that Ramgarh PVTG feed unit is one among the 20 units pan India.The project is supported under the seed funding initiative of the Centre for Cooperatives and Livelihood – Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (CCL-LBSNAA), implemented with the PVTG women SHG of Ramgarh in Palamu under the aegis of Project PAHAL for PVTG action for holistic animal livelihoods.
