A green path to white revolution

The Pollution Control Board, Assam notifying the Guidelines for Management of Dairy Farms and Gaushalas in the state is a timely and welcome move. Assam has been witnessing significant growth in dairy sector with increasing demand for raw milk and dairy products. Environmental management of the dairy farms to prevent pollution of rivers and water bodies will be an easier task if the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board can be implemented effectively. The major environmental issues highlighted in the guidelines is poor management of discharges of dungs and urinal waste water. Many dairy farms and gaushalas discharge the cattle dung along with waste water into the drains, leading to clogging, which ultimately reach to rivers and create water pollution, it sates and adds that the clogged drains become breeding ground for mosquitoes creating health hazards, odour nuisance and emission of greenhouse gases. A bovine animal, weighing about 400 kg, on an average, discharges 15-20 kg of dung and 15-20 litres of urine a day. Assam has 38.18 lakh adult cows and 1.38 lakh adult female buffaloes, according to the Livestock Census, 2019 carried out by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Uttar Pradesh tops the state-wise chart with total 2.49 crore bovine population. The State Innovation and Transformation Aayog report on "Economy of Assam in the Backdrop of COVID-19 Pandemic" mentions that production from cross breed milch animal and buffalo together account for 35 million litres of milk in a month in the state, and this quantity is largely meant for market. The figures give an idea about the magnitude of the environmental problem if scientific management system is not put in place in the dairy sector. The guidelines have spelt out the solution of improving the traditional use of cattle dung as organic manure and source of energy. Utilizing the cattle dung for production of bio-gas, soil conditioner, fertiliser in construction use for wall plastering, granaries livestock and feeding can lessen the problem of its unscientific discharge into drains and open yards. The milking shed can be made environment friendly with little bit of modification in the architectural design. A common practice noticed in the dairy sector, mostly in case of crossbred cattle, is washing the floor of the milking shed with copious quantity of water. In the process the untreated waste of dung and fodder get drained outside the dairy premises. Creation of a treatment facility before draining out the waste water will prevent clogging of the drains and also reduce water wastage. One of the solid waste management practices prescribed in the guidelines is vermi composting. Rise in demand for organic farm produce has fuelled the demand for vermi compost and therefore the dairy farmers and entrepreneurs can make some extra income by producing vermi compost. Composting is the biological decomposition and stabilization of organic material and therefore the process produces a final product that isstable, free of pathogens, reduced odours and can be applied on the land, the guidelines say. The commercial aspect of composting can be motivating factor for the dairy farmers to adopt it for solid waste management and thereby contribute to reducing environmental pollution. The guidelines say that biogas plants are the best way to handle the dung waste. However, this involves input cost and therefore subsidies and financial support for biogas or compressed biogas plants are necessary to motivate entrepreneurs in the dairy sector to take these on a commercial scale. In case of new dairy farms, enforcement of the sitting policy of maintaining the minimum distance from waterbodies, highways, drinking water source and reservoir prescribed in the guidelines may be easier. For, existing dairy farmers pragmatic solutions will have to be worked out without affecting their livelihood. Awareness drive should be launched among them on the importance of the maintaining the distances to reduce pollution of water sources which is critical for their own health as well as in the neighbourhood. The registration of the dairy farms will help local authorities to monitor the waste management and their compliance of the environmental norms as laid down in the guidelines. Care must be taken by the local authorities to ensure that the monitoring process is not reduced to an inspection raj. Instead, the registration process needs to be turned into an opportunity of a meaningful exercise of building awareness among the dairy farmers how they can contribute to reduction of environmental pollution for their own benefit and for the larger benefit of their localities, the village, town, the state and the country. The sense of ownership as a stakeholder in a larger social exercise is critical to ensuring optimal participation of the targeted individuals. Dissemination of the guidelines in local languages, pictorial and in audio-video formats will go a long way in achieving the desired objectives.