Goat it! A chocolate only for ‘kids’, a first in world

A scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Banka, that comes under Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), Sabour, has come out with “memney ka chocolate” (chocolate for kids) after two years of research and field trial.

With Bihar pushing aggressively for development of goat farming under “integrated goat and sheep development project”, this chocolate is billed as a catalyst for their growth.

R K Sohane, director (extension education), BAU, Sabour, while giving credit to scientist Dharmendra Kumar for researching on the chocolate for kids, said, “While developing the chocolate, we have used locally available products like millets, jaggery etc. Even former union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh had praised the product.”

Sohane said they had initiated the process for patenting the chocolate.

Dharmendra, who joined KVK, Banka, in 2012, said while he was working in the fields in Banka region, farmers came with complaints that “Black Bengal” breed of goats, that were domesticated by the farmers there, gave births to at least three or four kids. “However, the mother goat was unable to feed their kids as she produced only 500 to 750 gm of milk per day. In the absence of mother’s milk, kids died in many cases. In cases where the mother goat died, the kids were fed with cow milk six to seven times,” said Dharmendra.

The farmers had to leave their farming activities to feed the kids with cow milk, as the hungry kids used to bleat a lot, he said.

“In view of this, I started working on the chocolate,” said the scientist, claiming that this type of product was not available anyhere in the world.

The KVK, Banka, that has sold 15 quintal chocolates this year, has sent them to Assam and neighbouring Jharkhand and at least 20 KVKS for usage. “The product is highly successful,” said Sohane.

The chocolate, for the first 15 days of a kid, is served in powder form so that they start learning how to lick. Later, the chocolate, measuring about 1 kg, is placed in an utensil from where the kids starts licking it regularly.

“When a kid is undernourished, its growth was 25 gm to 30 gm. However, with consumption of this chocolate, their growth is 40 to 50 gm per day,” said Dharmendra.

Unwilling to disclose the ingredients, Dharmendra said protein was the main constituent of the chocolate, besides 12 minerals like calcium and phosphorous, and jaggery was added to make it sweet.

He said he was developing a technique by which the farmers could prepare the chocolates in their homes themselves.

First Published:
Jun 09, 2019 13:53 IST

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