At ₹5,000 a litre for milk, donkey farming is lucrative, but...

It was 8.30 am on a sunny monsoon morning in Ira gram panchayat of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, and Srinivas Gowda had just come out from the shed after milking the donkeys.

Yes, you read it right. Srinivas Gowda is into donkey farming. After working in corporate sector for 18 years, Gowda decided to take a plunge into integrated farming systems. He, along with a few other friends, started Aisiri Farm (an integrated agriculture and animal husbandry, veterinary services, training and fodder development firm) four years ago at Parladka in Ira gram panchayat of Dakshina Kannada.

On what made him take the plunge into donkey farming, he told BusinessLine that the donkey population was coming down every year. Quoting the animal census of 2012, he said the number of donkeys in India was at 3.6 lakh. However, it declined to 1.27 lakh in 2019 census. This startling figure made him to think of venturing into this field.

Though the donkey farm was formally opened only a few days ago, he had been working on the project for the past four years. He did due diligence by travelling extensively across India to study more about donkeys and visited different States. He said he travelled around 1.6 lakh km across the country during 2020-21 for this purpose.

Donkey farming reaping rich dividends for this ex-corporate employee

Why are the numbers declining?

Talking about the reasons for the decline in the number of donkeys in the country, RN Sreenivas Gowda, former Vice-Chancellor of KVAFSU (Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University) and mentor of Srinivas Gowda in this venture, said the maintenance of donkeys is not easy, especially in confinement. Donkeys prefer to graze in open spaces. Many of those who were rearing it had given that up as the area for grazing has also come down over the years. One of the reasons why not many farms are coming up is because two animals need around an acre of land for them to graze, he said. Their feeding requirement is more.

Milk

Srinivas Gowda said he has around 20 donkeys at his farm and gets milk from 16 of them. He gets around 300 ml of milk from a donkey. The milk sells for around ₹5,000 a litre.

 Srinivas Gowda at Aisiri Farm in Ira gram panchayat of Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district. | Photo Credit: A J Vinayak

“A family from Mangaluru travels around 40 km a day to this location to get milk for the child in the family,” he said, highlighting the potential for doorstep delivery for customers. Modern retail outlets in Mangaluru and other areas are also being tapped to supply this milk in the market.

Asked about the shelf-life of the milk, he said it can be kept around for 32 days if stored in cold storage.

Considering the role being played in cosmetics industry, plans are also there to market it to cosmetics companies, he said, adding the co-founder of the Aisiri Farms, Jayashri Karkera, is working in this regard.

Stating that even donkey’s urine and dung are being used, he said manure made from donkey’s dung costs around ₹850-1000 a kilo. Dry dung manure is odourless, he said.

RN Sreenivas Gowda said there is a need to focus on producing byproducts such as cheese and tapping the cosmetics industry for a viable donkey farming. Those into donkey farming can think of tapping the market in infant hospitals, as many people prefer it for infants.

Dedication, patience must

Both RN Sreenivas Gowda and Srinivas Gowda stressed the need for dedication to succeed in donkey farming. It is not for those who come with the single intention of making money, they said.

 Srinivas Gowda at Aisiri Farm in Ira gram panchayat of Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district. | Photo Credit: A J Vinayak

Srinivas Gowda said donkey farming needs patience, self-confidence apart from dedication.

Srinivas Gowda claimed that his farm in Dakshina Kannada is the second such farm in the private sector in India. The first one is located at Ernakulam in Kerala, he added.