GUWAHATI, May 13 ? The State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary (AH&V) Department has launched an ambitious project, called Swarnadhenu Scheme (The Golden Cow Concept), with a view to upgrading the State?s local cattle breed into a cross breed through intensive Artificial Insemination (AI) within a span of five to seven years. The scheme drawn under the World Bank-aided Assam Rural Infrastructure Agriculture Services Projects? (ARIASP) Livestock Development Component (LDC), will require an investment of around Rs 40 crore in the first phase of its implementation. The new breed of the cow (50 local : 50 jersey) produced under the scheme shall be known as ?Sonali?, said the AH&V sources here.
Justifying the necessity of such a scheme, the sources said that though animal husbandry is potentially one of most important sectors for rapid socio-economic development of the State, Assam?s livestock is genetically inferior and low-yielding, and hence cannot be utilised as a lever to boost the State?s income. The State has a cattle population of about 80,29,865 and 7,27,707 buffaloes, 83, 608 sheeps and 26,77,357 goats. But, despite the best efforts in the past, Assam has only 4.5 per cent of cross bred (CB) population, against the All India figure of 20 per cent, and lags far behind Kerala, which has a CB population of above 70 per cent, said the sources, attributing this state of affairs to inferior technology, poor AI services, insufficient infrastructure, lack of trained manpower as well as awareness among the farmers.
The implementation of the Swarnadhenu Scheme also was delayed. Initially, the scheme was proposed to be implemented since 196-97, but because of the above factors it could be implemented only from the fag end of 2001. Now the implementation of its first phase will have to be completed by the end of this year. It covers 415 AI Centres in 15 districts of Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darrang, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Marigaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Hailakandi, Cachar and Karimganj. The second phase of the scheme is expected to be launched by the end of this year and this will continue till 2007. This will require an investment of around Rs 64 crore and will cover the rest of the State?s district. Stress will also be laid during the implementation of this phase, on improving the facilities installed during the first phase of the scheme. Proposal into this regard has already been submitted to the authorities concerned, the sources said.
During the first phase of the scheme, each of the 415 AI Centres has been doing atleast three artificial insemination everyday. It is expected that when the implementation of this phase will come to conclusion, the AI Centres will be able to complete 45,84,600 artificial insemination, the sources said. To achieve this projected target, every Friday evening a review meeting is held by each of the AI Centres with the Field Management Committees in the village concerned, it added. Under the scheme, the AH&V Department has already set up three frozen semen production centres (FSPCs) at Khanapara in the city, at Kaliapani in Jorhat District and Ghungur near Silchar, in Cachar District. The FSPCs at Khanapara and Kaliapani have already been commissioned and the one at Ghungur is also ready for commissioning.
The Department has also set up seven Frozen Semen Centres, for easy distribution of frozen semen, at Khanapara, Howly, Nagaon, Tezpur, Jorhat Baghsung, Demow and Tinsukia, under the scheme. Considering the entrepreneurship development aspect related with the animal husbandry sector, the Department has embarked upon a new strategy to develop entrepreneurship among the rural youths with the objectives of increasing production of livestock products and addressing the unemployment problem of the State. The strategy envisages promotion of livestock estates in each district of the State with the help of NABARD loan assistance and private participation by the entrepreneurs. Each of the estates will have 300 bighas of allotted land. Sixty per cent of the land will be utilised for farming, thirty per cent for common facilities like roads, drainage, electricity, water supply and marketing sheds etc. and ten per cent for fishery-cum-water reservoir, said a press release of the Department here.
The estates will be managed by a registered body, of which Deputy Commissioners and District Veterinary Officers will be the chairpersons and member secretaries respectively. Each of the estates will comprise of parent stock bidder, layer farms, modern commercial layer and broiler farms, hatcheries, fishery-cum-duckery farms, piggery, goatery, cattle farms, meat processing plants and animal and poultry feed milling unit, and will facilitate absorption of 20 entrepreneurs directly and 200 others indirectly, the press release said, adding the strategy is so envisaged that it will finally lead to shifting of present subsistence farming to a viable commercial farming.