Chandigarh: In an initiative to increase the income of the state’s dairy farmers, Punjab government has finalised a Rs60-crore project to increase the milk-giving capacity of buffaloes.

“The main motive of this exercise (project) is to jack up the earnings of over 3 lakh small and marginal farmers by improving the milk-giving capacity of their buffaloes through artificial insemination,” said PS Rangi, Marketing Economist, Punjab State Farmers’ Commission.

The project, which has been titled Buffalo Breeding and Management Programme, will be funded through Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) and is expected to start by October this year.

It will cover 600 villages in several districts like Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ropar and Nawanshehar. Rangi said that Punjab government has already sanctioned Rs9 crore for the project for the current year.

The Commission’s Dairy Consultant Anil Kaura said that the project aims to increase the milk giving capacity of buffaloes from the present 1200litres per lactation to at least 2600litres per lactation in next 4 years. “At present, buffaloes owned by these farmers give only 3 to 4litres per day and we want it to raise to 7 to 8litres a day, which will ultimately increase their income from dairy business,” he said.