Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Fancy buying a jallikattu bull? Just whip out your mobile phone! The KongaMadu app has been built for farmers and jallikattu enthusiasts, who are interested in buying or selling native cattle breeds like Kangeyam, Tiruchengodu, Semmarai, Palamalai and Alambadi that are used in the sport.
“The app is all about fair pricing. It can give you the best rates for jallikattu bulls. The app also lets you buy A2 milk from native breeds of cows and has an organic store listed on the side,” says Sheelan Thangavelan, a user of the app.
KongaMadu is a collaborative effort of Coimbatorebased Kaptas Technology , Konga Goshala, Kadaiyur Kangeyam and students from the Sri Sakthi Institute of Engineering & Technology . The app, launched in November 2015 on Children’s Day , has gone viral with more than 1,200 downloads so far.
The app caters to all 32 districts in Tamil Nadu but has maximum downloads from Theni, Palamedu, Allanganallur, Karur, Thiruchengode and surprisingly Pollachi, Erode, Tirupur, Oddanchataram and Attur. Apart from being an online marketplace, the app also has a list of affiliated veterinary doctors, so that users can locate the nearest doctor in their district.
“We have seen a good response with a 4.6 rating (5 being the highest). We have the Android version currently .And we will be launching the iPhone version in another 10 days,” says Arun Stalin, CEO and founder of Kaptas, which has designed websites for blogging giant WordPress.com.
Among native cattle breeds, Kangeyam and Tiruchengodu bulls are the most traded on the app with 50-60 bulls sold in a week. “The Semmarai, Palamalai and Alambadi breeds are on the verge of extinction. We have great difficulty sourcing them. But with the app, we are hoping there will be a revival of interest in these breeds that are centuries old,” says V Shivakumar, founder of Coimbatore-based Kongu Goshala and one of the brains behind the creation of the app.Shivakumar quit his job as an Oracle programmer in New York to start Kongu Goshala to rescue and rehabilitate Kangeyam and Tiruchengodu breeds.
Another important aspect about the app is that it will help people who are lactose intolerant. A2 milk is a healthier version of cow’s milk that contains a beta-casein protein rather than the more commonly available A1 milk sold by milk cooperatives like Amul, Aavin and Nandhini.
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