A Ex-Army Followed His Passion into Farming
Kezang Jamtsho, 41, hails from a small village called Dangling under Maenbi gewog, Lhuentse Dzongkhag. He served in an army for 10 years and left the job for the grueling, yet rewarding work of earning money from his ancestral land back in the village.
After returning to the village, he began dairy farming. Currently, he owns thirteen jersey crossbreed cows and supplies a high volume of milk to the Milk Processing Unit at Tangmachu, Lhuentse.
Today, Kezang is not only a progressive dairy farmer but also a competitive CAIT in the community. He attended CAIT training in 2019 through RLDC, Kanglung with fund support from CARLEP-IFAD. Like many CAITs, Kezang also took up AI job to ease the burden of the lone livestock production supervisor in gewog and help the officer with timely AI services for breed improvement. Unlike in the past, Kezang does not worry about breeding his cows as he can now inseminate the cows whenever needed.
Although the concept of CAIT is new to the community, Kezang was able to inseminate 72 cows within one year and six months (October 2020 to May 2021) after completing the training. He charges Nu. 400 per insemination within a travel distance of 4 kilometers, Nu. 500 for travel distance of 5 kilometers and Nu. 1000 for travel distance of 10 km and above as services charge, as per the agreement drawn between the dairy farmers and the CAIT.
Kezang receives AI equipment and semen supports through Regional Livestock Development Centers, Kanglung with fund support from CARLEP-IFAD, and technical assistance from the Dzongkhag Livestock sector.
Since the program is in the initial phase he earns a minimum of Nu. 800 to 2500 in a month from his services. With his improving skills, Kezang was able to convince farmers and deliver AI services. Out of the 72 cows inseminated, 10 progenies are born to date.
“CAIT will be the first stepping stone of privatizing RNR service delivery if services are privatized in near future”. ~Menda Lhamo
Article by: Menda Lhamo, LPS, Lhuentse and Chhimi Lhamo, GKMO, OPM
