A seven days vocational training course on “Goat Farming” was organized under the aegis of Punjab Agricultural University and ICAR-ATARI, Zone-I, Ludhiana at KVK, Amritsar from 16.10.2023 to 25.10.2023 in which 70 farmers/farm women and rural youth from the districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Kapurthala participated. The training course was organized under the able guidance of Dr. Bikramjit Singh, Associate Director (Training), KVK, Amritsar.
On the very first day, Dr. Bikramjit Singh extended a warm welcome to the participants and shared the mandates and working of KVK with them. He highlighted the importance and scope of goat farming as a subsidiary occupation in agriculture and inspired the trainees to adopt goat farming for income and employment generation. He also urged the farmers to get maximum benefit of the services provided by the KVK.
Dr. Kanwarpal Singh Dhillon, Assistant Professor (Animal Science), KVK, Amritsar acted as course coordinator and imparted detailed knowledge on various topics including goat breeds, feeding, housing, marketing of goat milk products, vaccination and disease management of goat to run a successful scientific goat farm both at local or commercial level. The trainees were also made aware about the economics of goat farming and method of record keeping.
Dr. Parminder Singh Sandhu, Veterinary Officer, Amritsar shared information regarding facilities provided by animal husbandry department and available schemes like KCC for goat farmers.
Mr. Jaskirat Singh, AGM, NABARD, Amritsar provided useful information regarding government funded schemes and subsidies available for goat farmers.
Mr. Akashdeep, Manager, SBI, Amritsar interacted with the trainees regarding procedure of bank loans and insurance policy available for the goat farmers in required field.
S. Sandeep Singh, Ex-Trainee (Goat farming) shared his experience with the trainees about initial difficulties in goat farming business and cleared their doubts.
An exposure visit was arranged to the farm of a progressive goat farmer S. Sukhpal Singh Gill of village Bal Kalan where trainees had a fruitful interaction and gained the important tips.
A pre-knowledge test was administered to check the knowledge level of trainees about goat farming and vocational training programme concluded with post-knowledge test to know the gain in knowledge level of trainees about goat farming. A WhatsApp group was also formed to share the latest knowledge regarding goat and animal husbandry.
During closing ceremony, Dr. Kanwarpal Singh Dhillon thanked all the participants and motivated them to take up this new venture at new heights in future. Literature on goat was also provided to the trainees.
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