Kannur (Keralam) | Keralam Minister Sunny Joseph has said he will urge the Centre to include dairy farming under the VB-G RAM G scheme to help address rising production costs faced by farmers.

Joseph said dairy farmers and dairy groups were the backbone of the -sector, with the rising cost of production being the main challenge confronting them.

To address this, they had put forward several demands, the most important being the inclusion of the dairy sector under the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) scheme, he said.

The state Electricity minister was speaking at the inaugural session of a block-level dairy meet at Edakkad here on Saturday, according to a district administration release.

Joseph said he would request the Centre to consider the demand, as the difficulties faced by dairy farmers were also affecting related groups and enterprises.

He said many families had been engaged in cattle rearing as a livelihood for a long time, while the sector also comprised several large and small farms.

Besides, several allied activities, including fodder and fodder-grass production, were dependent on the dairy sector, he said.

Joseph said that, apart from assistance from the state government, dairy groups were implementing several schemes to encourage farmers.

The dairy farming sector needed to be transformed in a manner that would attract younger generations to the profession, he added.