Livestock are a vital part of rural families in India. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry are considered twin occupations to the farm families. Animals keep the soil alive in farms and provides economical support to farmers.

Erode district has 5722 Sq.km area in which 27.7% of the total area is under forests.  Anthiyur, TN Palayam, Sathyamangalam and Talavadi blocks are partially covered with forest area.  In these areas, most of the farm families own between 5-10 small ruminants and 2-3 milch cows.  KVK initiated to improve the quality of livestock in the hilly regions of Erode district, but farmers in remote area facing problem related to veterinary services like first aid, deworming, vaccination.  In this context, KVK encouraged rural youths to provide veterinary services with the following objectives.

• To make the trainees aware of livestock management
• To train them to identify various seasonal diseases and preventive measures
• To provide first aid skills and AI
• To ensure self-employment to rural youths

KVK designed six month vocational training on Animal Health Promotion for rural unemployed youth and developing effective trained youth with support of various institutions like Veterinary University Training and Research Centre (VUTRC), Erode, State Animal Husbandry Department, Aavin, Ambedkar Self-employment Training institute (ASETI).  51 Animal Health Promoters have been trained and providing proper veterinary service in the remote area of hilly regions in Erode District.