Donkey milk, which has little worth in India, has made Dhiren Solanki a profitable farmer in Gujarat. He tapped into its worldwide demand within the pharmaceutical and cosmetics business, organising a enterprise inside two years.
“If I had develop into a authorities instructor, I’d be incomes Rs 30,000 in a month – an quantity that I generate in roughly three days. With the federal government job, I may have solely cleared my EMIs, not fulfilled my desires.”
In 2022, Dhiren Solanki give up his fantasy of touchdown a authorities job to develop into a farmer. Not like conventional agriculture practices, he turned to making a livelihood out of donkeys!
Traditionally, donkeys have been primarily used as pack animals to tug ploughs and carts, ship items to market, accumulate water from wells, and within the building business. Nonetheless, these donkeys are not often used as agricultural animals like cows, buffaloes, and goats.
Curiously, donkeys have develop into income supply for Dhiren. At 22, he arrange a multi-lakh enterprise incomes Rs 3 lakh per 30 days by promoting donkey milk. In dialog with The Higher India, he explains how he stood out in making donkey milk a worthwhile farming enterprise.
Donkey milk – a hidden gem
Like his father, Dhiren’s childhood aspiration was to pursue a profession in educating. So, after finishing his education in science, he began making ready for the federal government examinations in 2020.
“There are restricted vacancies for presidency jobs and there may be an excessive amount of competitors on this subject. Anyway, I appeared for a lot of state and central-level examinations in February 2020 however I didn’t get any outcomes. I used to be sitting idle for not less than six months, I didn’t know what to do and was simply ready for my outcomes. I used to be getting demotivated,” he says.
In early 2021, his father learn in regards to the donkey-rearing enterprise in Karnataka and Kerala. “This idea was under no circumstances popularised within the North. Though there may be little demand for donkey milk within the nation, it has big demand in nations like Turkey, Malaysia, and China,” he provides.
“At a time when persons are bothered by hovering costs of cow and buffaloes milk at Rs 60 per litre, they aren’t enthusiastic about shopping for donkey milk which is bought for Rs 3,500 a litre. But it surely has a global market and is broadly utilized in pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries to make merchandise like moisturisers, child cream, and soaps,” he provides.
A 2020 analysis article reveals that donkey milk stimulates the immune system, regulates the gastrointestinal flora, and prevents inflammatory illnesses. It has lengthy been used as a substitute for infants and sufferers with Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA).
Dhiren says the demand for donkey milk additionally elevated amid the COVID-19 pandemic to make immunity-boosting tablets. Apart from its potential roles in human vitamin, donkey milk is utilized in ethnomedicine, and cosmetology, almost definitely attributable to its lysozyme content material, and smoothing pores and skin and scalp inflammations.
Contemplating a possible enterprise alternative, Dhiren shifted his focus to arrange a donkey farm in his village Manund of Patan district, Gujarat.
Didn’t get held up after Rs 40 lakh losses
In 2022, Dhiren began TDS Donkey Farm with none formal coaching. For this, he additionally took a mortgage of Rs 37 lakh to purchase 20 donkeys and arrange a 40×30 toes shed.
“I took the chance as I used to be assured and constructive. However I missed the chance and my determination turned out to be unsuitable,” he says.
“I believed that I’d buy donkeys, milk them at some point, and promote their milk the following day. This was under no circumstances potential. I didn’t contemplate its low shelf life. There was no correct native marketplace for it and it couldn’t be despatched overseas in its liquid type through aircraft or ship attributable to this,” he shares.
Within the first 12 months, he incurred losses as much as Rs 40 lakh as he needed to throw 3,000 litres of milk down the drain. The one resolution was to move the milk overseas by changing it into dry powder type for transportation. But it surely took him a 12 months to grasp this and discover appropriate firms that did this course of.
“I sought assist from a advertising and marketing firm and purchased their annual bundle of Rs 3.5 lakh which introduced in prospects. After greater than a 12 months, I received my first order of fifty kg milk powder,” he provides.
By that point, Dhiren had already saved 200 kg of milk powder. He shares, “It takes 17 litres of milk to make one kg powder. It’s bought for Rs 63,000 per kg within the worldwide market,” he provides.
After preliminary hiccups, Dhiren was capable of scale up the enterprise and regularly expanded his farm to 50 donkeys. The present every day milk manufacturing at his farm is about 15 litres.
He provides that he additionally ensures the overall well-being of the donkeys at his farm. “We guarantee that the donkeys should not exploited for milk. In our village, we’ve a veterinary hospital very near our farm. We get them handled and vaccinated for tetanus yearly and provides them B-complex dietary supplements each month,” he provides.
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Trying again at his success, Dhiren says, “With this work, I really feel I’ve additionally been capable of elevate some respect for donkeys which might be thought of of no worth within the Indian setup. Moreover, I’ve additionally been capable of get fame at a really younger age. Had I been in a authorities job, no one would have identified of my existence,” he says.
Edited by Padmashree Pande. All images: Dhiren Solanki.
