The Rural Centre
   Krishnamurti Foundation India,Rajghat Fort Varanasi, India




 

   Livestock Development

The dairy at the Centre plays a very important role in supplying milk to the entire community at Rajghat campus. The livestock farm was established way back in 1981 with 50 cows with help of People Action for Development in India (PADI).The present cattle population stands at 126. Of which, cows' population is 67. The animals belong to a hybrid variety -Holistein Frison. The dairy unit produces, on an average, 320 litres/day in the lean period July-Sept and during the peak season it touches 560 litres mark (Nov-March). After meeting the campus demand for milk the dairy sells the surplus in the market.

The centre grows jowar, bajra, etc, to meet the green fodder requirement of the dairy. In addition to green fodder, the dairy procures, feeds from the market to meet the nutritional requirement of the cattle.

Bio Gas Plant
The cattle in the dairy unit generate approximately 1300-1500 kgs of cow dung every day. This is being used for producing biogas. About 10 years ago, bio gas plant having 45 cu.m capacity was installed. For a brief period, the plant was not functioning for some problems. Now the problem has been rectified and it is functioning well. The gas is used for cooking purposes and 12 families are deriving benefit from this plant. The plant needs overhauling since it is almost a decade old.

Future Plans
Presently the plant is underutilized and it needs a thorough overhauling. After it is overhauled, the gas produced would be utilized for supplying to more number of families. And also to it would be utilized for running a generator.

The Centre is also planning to install another biogas for the school kitchen. This biogas works on a mixture of gobar and food and vegetable wastes.