The Planning Commission in association with the fisheries and animal resources department (FARD) of the Orissa government and the Orissa State Co-operative Milk Producers, Federation (OMFED) today organised a wrap up meeting on animal husbandry and dairy development in the eastern states like Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand.
In his inaugural address, G Mohan Kumar, secretary, FARD said, the Orissa government will extend the required input service and necessary infrastructure for development of animal husbandry and dairy sector.
Santosh K Sarangi, managing director, OMFED, made a presentation on the dairy development and stressed on the cultivation of fodder and azola to minimise the cost of milk production. Artificial insemination through cluster approach with 10 lakh insemination can help in augmenting milk production significantly, he added.
The Government of India (GoI), at the initiative of the Planning Commission (PC), seeks to provide thrust to the development of the animal husbandry and dairy in the country. This is proposed to be achieved by designing state specific strategy. While animal husbandry and dairy play a significant role in the rural economy, the gross evaluation of the output from this sector constitutes about 25 percent supplementary employment and additional source of income for small and marginal farmers.
Since the animal productivity and per capita milk availability are low in the country, there is ample scope for increasing productivity through control of animal disease, scientific management and upgradation of genetic resources, development of processing and marketing facilities.
In this context, the Planning Commission has constituted an advisory committee to look into all aspects relating to the development of animal husbandry and dairy and to make recommendations. This is for the first time that a state specific exercise is being undertaken for all round development of the animal husbandry and dairy sector. The advisory committee interacted with the eastern states today.
L Rynjah, principal advisor, Planning Commission, Bishnupada Sethy, director, animal husbandry and veterinary services spoke on the occasion.
