Jharkhand’s Pashu Sakhis: The Community Animal Healthcare Workers

It’s a bright sunny September morning after almost a week of cloudy days and rain in village Tengariya situated in Gumla district in the central-eastern state of Jharkhand in India.   Thirty-two-year-old Somati has just finished cleaning the house, sent off her two children to school, and feeding her in-laws and husband.   She quickly changes into her uniform – a dark blue sari, an apron of matching color, puts on a hat, and walks quickly, carrying a smartphone and a cool box, to the houses at the eastern side of the village, which is where she will be spending the next four-five hours. 

Somati is a trained Pashu Sakhi which literally translates to friend of the animals.  She visits around 10 families that own livestock, mostly goats, and helps them with timely animal health check-up including vaccinations, deworming and first aid.  She advises them about livestock hygiene, breeding and feeding, how to keep the farm clean and how to manage animal waste appropriately.  

“My husband and I owned four goats and did not have any knowledge on their upkeep, feeding and breeding. The goats were also a meagre livelihood and we struggled to make ends meet,” says Somati. “Now, with my training, not only am I able to take care of my own livestock well, but I can also help others in need.”

Somati, who has studied till grade 8 became a Pashu Sakhi in 2018, after undergoing a 30-day training program over seven-day tranches, organized under the government-run JOHAR project - the Jharkhand Opportunities for Harnessing Rural Growth – supported by the World Bank.

Working part time, Somati now earns about Rs 10,000-20,000 per month as against Rs. 3000-5000 earlier.  She feels proud as she can now contribute to her family income independent from her husband’s. Two of her children now go to private school. “I feel gratified when villagers refer to me as ‘Bakri doctor’ (a doctor of goats),” she says. “I want to work even harder and double my income in the coming years.”

Low Livestock Productivity in Jharkhand

Jharkhand’s livestock production is in the hands of marginal and landless farmers with women accounting for over 70 percent of the production. Over the past decade, prices of meat and eggs have risen by almost 70-100 percent across the country.  But livestock farmers in the low-income state of Jharkhand were unable to use the opportunity to increase their income. They had inadequate information on managing livestock, and limited access to quality healthcare and support in breeding. The ratio of veterinarians to livestock in the state was among the lowest in the country and were constrained with limited resources and services.

As a result, mortality among livestock were high - over 30 percent in goats, and about 80 percent in pigs and poultry, which led to low production of eggs and meat. This in turn adversely affected farmer incomes with earnings as low as Rs. 800 per month.

Helping farmers with livestock

The women in the farming community usually take care of raising and breeding livestock in the backyard of their homes. So, training the local women to be ‘Pashu Sakhis’ seemed to offer the most suitable model to improve livestock productivity and trade, and enhance farmer incomes.  

Under the JOHAR project, these community animal health service providers are trained on  how to take care of poultry, goats, pigs, and chicken. After the training, the Pashu Sakhis, not only provide advice on taking care of livestock, but also advise farmers on the economic benefits of rearing livestock for sale.  They also connect them to producer groups and traders, helping them getting better access to markets to sell their produce.

Over 1000 Pashu Sakhis have been trained so far under the project and 70 percent of those trained have been certified by the Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI), thus guaranteeing a high common standard of services.   

The Pashu Sakhis also organize regular field training for the farmers. Manju from Chitami village has been raising chicken for the past two years. After undergoing a short three-day training from a Pashu Sakhi in her village, Manju is now able to manage her poultry farm better.  “We had no knowledge earlier of what the correct diet for the chickens was, or what to do when there was a disease outbreak,” she says. “Now I can handle small tasks on my own and when needed, call the Pashu Sakhi over phone if I need some urgent help.”

Pashu Sakhis also earn income as entrepreneurs selling services and inputs.  Thirty-year-old Hasiba Khatun from village Khanbita in Ranchi district sells chicks to farmers.  She breeds about 3000-4000 of them for which she earns close to Rs. 1 lakh in profit from their sale.   She is also a Master Trainer having completed 45 days of additional training in livestock management.  A graduate, Hasiba used to do odd sewing jobs earlier while raising her three children, adding only around Rs. 4000-5000 a month to the family income. As a Master Trainer, she often travels to other districts in the state. “I have been lucky enough to have the support of my husband throughout, as a Pashu Sakhi earlier, and now as a Master Trainer.  My training has also helped me increase my income exponentially,” she says.

The JOHAR project in Jharkhand has 29 such Master Trainers certified by ASCI. 

The World Bank-supported JOHAR project is helping nearly 57,000 beneficiary farmers of which 90 percent are women.  

An independent monitoring and evaluation assessment by UK’s Oxford Group has confirmed farmer incomes of over Rs. 45,000 a month from small backyard livestock production.  This is an increase of over 55 to 125 times of average incomes before the JOHAR project.

The Pashu Sakhi model under JOHAR was recently selected by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Food Policy Research Institute as one of the top 8 global best practice models for farmer service delivery.