Mobilization of green fodder production through cultivation and feeding of super Napier: An action Research

An Action oriented approach to sensitize and mobilize the dairy farmers for intensive cultivation of super Napier fodder in Kalyana Karnataka region of Karnataka, India was conducted in Bidar district of Karnataka. This action research involved 10 respondents who reported that there was increase in quantity of milk after feeding the super Napier fodder to milch animals and there was no remarkable change in fat and SNF. Further, farmers felt that super Napier fodder was high yielding and required less time to grow in both first cut and subsequent cut, with less land and labour for same output compared to other fodder crops. Scarcity of water/ lack of irrigation facilities, low / non availability of cultivable land, lack of labour/ manpower, preference for cultivation of agriculture/cash crops were the major constraints in fodder production. The study concluded that there is a need to improve the knowledge level of farmers about fodder production and feeding of green fodder crops to dairy animals through various extension approaches for improved dairy production in the study area.