Tribals told to rear Kadaknath to fight malnutrition
KOTA: With an aim to combat malnourishment and improve the livelihood of Sahariya tribals, the Baran district administration is encouraging the farming of ‘highly priced’ Kadaknath,a variety of chicken, black in colour, among the community.
Malnourishment has been a worrying problem among the impoverished Sahariya tribals and this is the firs time the district administration has launched a project that involves farming indigenous black chicken, a variety found in Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) to address the situation.
Inderjeet Singh Rao, district collector, Baran, told HT that Kadaknath or the black chicken is very costly due to its high nutritional value. Farming the bird can address both livelihood as well as malnourishment.
“It is rich in iron, and contains around 10 times more iron than the traditional poultry chicken variety”, he said.
“Kadaknath has more than 25% proteins, Vitamin B-1, B-2, B-6, B-12, C, E, Nicotinic acid while the fat content is just 0.73% to 1.03%”, he said.
Black chicken helps in curing asthama, nephritis, tuberculosis, cardiac, diabetes, anemia and other health ailments, he said.
The meat of the black chicken is also black in colour and it helps increase haemoglobin in the human body.
Farming the bird will serve dual purpose. While tribals can make money selling eggs and meat they will also be able to fight malnutrition consuming its meat, said Rao.
The black chicken will also help improve the earnings of the Sahariya tribals since each of the chicken is sold for Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 per kg while the eggs fetch up to Rs 40 to Rs 60 per piece.
“I came across Kadaknath during my visit to tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh on election duty during state assembly polls in 2018 after which I decided to introduce this black chicken variety among Sahariya tribals in Baran district,” he said.
Baran administration sanctioned black chicken scheme in TAD project and is now giving free training to the Sahariya tribals on rearing the bird, he said.
“Five Sahariya farmers have been selected under the black chicken scheme whereby poultry shades have been set up. The farmers will now be given free 100 chicks and poultry feed for up to a year, spending Rs 2 lakh on each of the five farmers under the Tribal area development (TAD) funds”, he said.
A poultry shade of 20 feet x 10 feet and poultry storage of 10 feet x 10 feet for keeping the poultry feed have been developed in the district for each of the selected Sahariya tribals under the scheme, he said.
We will also help tribals to market black chicken and their eggs, he said.
Further, the animal husbandry department has given training to around 100 farmers of the district including Sahariya tribals on rearing the birds.
About malnourishment among Sahariya tribals in Baran district, Sumit of Integerated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) said that around 2.25% Sahariya kids (0 to 5 years) are severely malnourished while around 14% are medium malnourished. On malnourishment among women, chief medical and health officer, Baran, Dr Sampat Nagar said that malnourishment among women including Sahariya women is around 60%.