Telangana, Karimnagar,(Telugu Bullet): An MBA graduate quit his lucrative job in a reputed private firm to take up dairy farming and started to reap riches. However, the journey was not as easy as it seems as Aennam Chandrashekhar Reddy toiled through several days and nights to grow the family occupation into a flourishing business.
Chandrashekhar’s father Balreddy eked out a living by rearing three buffaloes and was engaged in farm activities in Nusthullapur village of Thimmapur Mandal. Balreddy, who used to supply one or two liters of milk to the Karimnagar Dairy every day, struggled to educate his son Chandrashekhar so that the latter earns himself a highly paid job in the city.
Contrary to his father’s dream, Chandrashekhar Reddy who completed MBA (marketing) from a private college in Karimnagar town, longed to return to his rural roots and dreamt of running a dairy farm that could earn him an income on par with any professional from the IT sector.
Buoyed over the successful implementation of welfare schemes by the Karimnagar Dairy, he bought hybrid cows from other parts of the State and started dairy farming in 2012. Presently, he has 11 milch animals and supplies 80 litres of milk every day to the Karimnagar Dairy via the Milk Producer Institute (MPI) in his village. His monthly income touched Rs 80,000 and plans to supply daily 150 litres of milk and earn monthly Rs 1.5 lakh.
Considered as a role model for the villagers, he was elected as the president MPI in the village for the last three years and motivating other youth to take up dairy farming. On behalf of MPI, he oversees the supply of 250 litres of milk per day to the Karimnagar Dairy from his villages and had set a target of supplying 500 litres of milk per day in a couple of years.
He grows fodder for the animals in his plot of land and plans to set up a biogas plant (using cow dung) to generate electricity and cooking gas. He also cultivates other crops in his two acres of land to meet the requirement of his family such as paddy, vegetables, leafy vegetables etc.
His wife Lavanya, initially hesitant to participate in the dairy-farm initiative for various reasons has managed to overcome her city-bred inhibitions and join her husband in his new venture. “I am happy with the dairy farming and the cows have become good friends to my two children”, she says with pride.
Karimnagar Dairy chairman Ch Rajeshwara Rao said that dairy farming was the best supplementary income for the farmers along with the cultivation of various crops. Appreciating Chandrashekhar Reddy for taking up dairy farming and emerging as a role model in the district, he said that dairy farming alone was providing assured income to the farmers. He said that the Karimnagar dairy was in the forefront to encourage dairy farming and provide several welfare schemes for the milk-producing farmers and the milking animals.
