Cow a Foundation of Indian Economy: Gujarat Governor

While emphasising the significance of natural farming that is entirely dependent on indigenous cow breeds, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat on Wednesday said cow is a “foundation of Indian economy”. Devvrat was speaking during the seventh annual convocation of Kamdhenu University, Gandhinagar. “Natural farming is based on indigenous cows because Holstein friesian jersey cow dung and gaumutra does not have those qualities which are in Indian bred cows. I got this researched from scientists of Agriculture University of Hisar in their lab that proved that 1 gm of indigenous cow dung has more than 300 crore bacteria that helps in improving soil fertility and gaumutra is an abundance of minerals. So cow in a way is a foundation of Indian economy,” Acharya Devvrat stated.

He added, “It (cows) gives milk for our nutrition, dung and gaumutra (cow urine) helps in agriculture, farmers can increase their income. An example right in Gujarat is of AMUL where over 30 lakh farmers are associated with this and are prosperous.” Giving his own examples, the Governor said that he has 350 cows of seven indigenous breeds including Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Haryanavi, Rathi, Gir and Lal sindhi. “I have worked on improving their breeds as a result now there are cows that give 15 to 24 litre per day milk. So if we work on such cattle this will not only increase farmers income but also help in people’s health as research conducted in Australia and New Zealand on A1 and A2 milk have proved that A2 milk which is found in Indian bred cattle is good for health,” he added.

Also promoting natural farming, Devvrat said that with his efforts where natural farming has been encouraged in Gujarat during last 8 months as a result 1.05 lakh farmers have adopted to natural farmin. “I had proposed to the state government that those farmers who will follow natural farming will be given Rs 900 per month for keeping an indigenous cow for its fodder and care. This has already been implemented as the state government has disbursed Rs 48 crore to these 1.05 lakh farmers on December 22, 2020. As a result of this, another 2 lakh farmers have also applied to join natural farming from this year,” he added.

Source: The article is extracted from The Indian Express, March 11, 2021.

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