Why Cultivation of Azolla as Cattle Feed Not Sustainable?

Abstract

A study on azolla cultivation was conducted in the coastal areas of the Villupuram district of Tamilnadu to analyse the reasons for adoption and non adoption of azolla cultivation by the dairy farmers. The local NGO (REAL) promoted azolla cultivation to reduce the cost of milk production in six adopted villages in this district. The NGO has selected a total of 100 dairy farmers to cultivate and feed azolla to their cattle. Initially these selected farmers were given training on azolla cultivation and feeding azolla to cattle. All these trained dairy farmers were given azolla seeds and this project was continued for one year. Data collected from 47 of these farmers revealed that azolla cultivation is not sustainable as it was built around subsidies and not on the basis of the felt needs of the dairy farmers.