NDDB to initiate animal disease control project in Kerala

Anand-based National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has decided to invest Rs 24.98 crore in the Animal Disease Control Project - Goraksha (ADIP) in Kerala.

K R Gouri Amma, the minister for agriculture, coir and animal husbandry of Kerala, inaugurated the project on Friday at Thiruvananthapuram in the presence of Amrita Patel, chairperson, NDDB.

The Rs 35-crore project is a joint initiative of NDDB and the Government of Kerala, with an objective to control animal diseases in the state. The Kerala government will investing Rs 6.96 crore in the ADIP.

The success of the project lies in every citizen of the state participating in prompt reporting of the outbreak. Immediate steps to contain the disease are then required.

"The presence of many animal diseases in the country, especially foot and mouth disease (FMD), in addition to causing enormous economic loss. At the same time it also prevents India from entering the global markets with our animal products," said Patel in her keynote address. The national annual economic loss due to FMD is estimated to be over Rs 4,000 crore.

NDDB, as a partner of the project, will provide support in financial and technical terms to help create a successful model for controlling this disease in the country.

The Kerala government, by a notification, has amended the Kerala Prevention and Control of Animal Disease Act, 1967 making it compulsory for every farmer to get his animal vaccinated and ear-tagged at his cost.

Kerala is the first state to do so in the country. It has also now become illegal to bring any FMD infected or unvaccinated animal into the state.

The corpus will be created through the contribution of farmers as well as the certain contribution from the government. At the end of five years, the corpus and its interest will be provided for the financial sustainability to the project.

The contribution of FMD vaccine in all FMD control programmes can be considered to be in the range of 50-60 per cent, said a release issued by NDDB.