Farmers' awards: Sebi Pazhayattil is best ensemble farmer

Thiruvananthapuram: Abdul Rasheed of Wayanad is the best dairy farmer and Sebi Pazhayattil of Thrissur is the best ensemble farmer of 2015. The Farmers’ Awards 2015 were announced by animal husbandry minister K Raju here on Monday.  The other major awards are: Philip K C, Kozhikode (best commercial dairy farm); Lalitha Ramakrishnan, Palakkad (best woman farm entrepreneur); Hyder Niyas K of Malappuram (best young farmer).

The awards carry a cash prize of Rs one lakh, except for the woman and young farmer awards which carry a cash prize of Rs 50,000. Mr Rasheed, who runs T5 Integrated Farm in Puzhimudi, has been selected for rearing cows that can produce the maximum possible milk. He has 45 cows, and his most productive cow gives 28 litres a day. The average is 16 litres a day.

“The scientific manner in which he looks after his cows, the food that he gives and the innovations that he had introduced, were instrumental in selecting him for the award,” the minister said.  Sebi has a collection of domestic animals and birds in his farm in Thrissur, which includes 26 cows, 14 calves, 80 goats, 400 ducks, 30 turkeys, 100 hens, 400 broiler hens, 12 rabbits, nine emus, and 400 quails.