A section of officials from the Pune zilla parishad (ZP) said depleting water levels in dams and lack of fodder have created a tough situation for the farmers in the rural area.
This prompted the authorities to prepare an action plan. As per their assessment, the current stock of fodder can last only for two months. “Thus, it would be difficult for the farmers to look after their cattle.
Dairy farmers in the district will face tougher times,” the official said.
“We have 3.8 tonne of fodder available in the district for 11.4 lakh cattle. Their daily consumption is 5.8 tonne and it will finish in the next two months. To tackle this impending situation, we distributed fodder seeds to the farmers where water is available to make available fodder in April and May,” a senior official from the animal husbandry division of the ZP said.
