In a rare initiative, a farmer of Haryana, Ramehar Singh of Silani village in Jhajjar district, has installed a 50-KW capacity poultry litter-based biogas power plant at his poultry farm using poultry waste as feed material.

Showing the way to other farmers by his enterprise by running his 65 KVA (50-KW) biogas plant for 14 hours a day for the last three months, this self-reliant farmer now saves about `1 lakh per month. Confident of meeting his power needs, he has got his state electricity board connection disconnected.

The food surplus status of Haryana conjures up the image of green fields and formidable young men and women, many of whom have made the country proud by winning medals in various sports fields. Ironically, the food surplus state has been found lacking in nutrition of its children.

According to a recent National Family Health Survey III (NFHS III), 46 per cent of children suffer from stunting (height according to age), 43 per cent suffer from underweight (weight according to age) and 19 per cent suffer from wasting (weight according to height) in Haryana.