Dhananjay, a diploma holder in Livestock Management and Dairy Production came to know about the ESAF Pashumitra project when he was in search of opportunities after his studies. He didn't have a second thought when PDS announced an opportunity for micro entrepreneurship development training in Dairy based entrepreneurship. The training was done in partnership with NDDB, Anand on the topic ‘Dairy Entrepreneurship Programme on Animal Rearing’. The training covered concepts on Animal Breeding, Dairy Farm Business, Animal Disease and Management giving him a holistic understanding of running a dairy based business. The exposure visits to the model farms along with the hands-on technical inputs gave him the confidence to nurture his dream of an own farm. After the training, he started working towards setting up his own farm and today he successfully runs a farm with 4 buffaloes, 5 cows and 2 calves.
Later on, Dhananjay gauged the possibilities to scale his business by getting into the business of value added milk products and approached PDS for a specialized training. This training was also done at NDDB Anand where he got trained on dairy based value added product making and marketing of these products. Today, an unemployed youth in the month of April, 2022 owns a farm with 4 buffaloes, 5 cows and two calves and earns around Rs.10000 per month with a plan to expand his business. His dream is to build a dairy brand in his region.
“The training helped me to understand how basic things like farm management, animal nutrition and hygiene are important and fundamental for a profitable animal rearing business”
Dhananjay is definitely an inspiration to many youths where opportunities open up with one bold step.
