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Impacting Farmers’ lives through Science Biotech-Kisan & Cattle Genomics

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...i-notebandi-gau-rakshaks-vigilantism-4459275/
Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba | Jalandhar | Published:January 5, 2017 1:03 am
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Cattle breeder-farmer Sukhjinder Singh Gumman at his 150-cow dairy farm near Batala, Punjab. (Source: Express Photo)

When farmers have no hard cash with which to buy things – in this case, cattle – the impact isn’t just on themselves. It’s also on other farmers – those in the business of breeding and supplying the same animals, ready to be milked by the former lot. Nowhere is the above special cash crunch-imposed crisis more apparent than in Punjab, India’s No. 1 cow breeding state that supplies an estimated 3 lakh animals – mostly Holstein Friesian crossbreds – worth Rs 2,400-2,500 crore annually to other states. A third of it goes to Gujarat alone, with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh accounting for the rest.


This entire business – of cows that are reared in Punjab, milked in Gujarat and whose produce comes back for sale, including in Delhi and other northern markets – has been hit by the Narendra Modi government’s November 8 decision to demonetise all existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination currency notes.

Punjab has some 6,500 dairy farmers owning anywhere from 10 to 500 animals each, and also into rearing of cows ‘ready to sell’ for others to milk. These breeder-farmers are today faced with a sudden demand collapse – sales have plunged to half their levels two months ago – and lower prices for their animals. According to them, freshly-calved two-year-old Holstein cows that are ready for milking, and can give 7,500-8,000 litres over a ten-month lactation cycle, are now selling at Rs 80,000-90,000, compared to Rs 1-1.2 lakh before demonetisation happened. Prices of 18-month-old pregnant heifers have, likewise, fallen from Rs 80,000-90,000 to Rs 60,000-65,000.

“I cannot be selling at these rates, which will just about cover my rearing costs”, notes Jaswinder Singh, who has a 60-animals farm at Gujarpur Khurd village in Banga tehsil of Nawanshahr district and sells 10-12 cows every year. Singh had 10 cows that he was supposed to sell in December, but couldn’t “because no trader came to me and even the ones whom I have contacted say there’s no cash with farmers in other states, who are our ultimate buyers”. He is now left with no option, but to sell the milk from the ‘ready to sell’ cows, which can at least take care of their rearing expenses.

Harbans Singh, too, is stranded with an equal number of cows bred for sale purposes. “I will wait for two more months for prices to improve. Traders have also advised me to hold on till cash returns to the market”, says this 40-animals dairy unit farmer from Kathgarh village in Nawanshahr’s Balachaur tehsil.

“It’s strange that milk prices are rising, but the rates for our animals are falling. I don’t see milk prices going down because there is a real supply problem that is already evident. At some point, cow prices will also have to catch up and we are living on that hope”, points out Balvir Singh, general secretary of the Ludhiana-based Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association, who operates a 50-cows dairy farm at Udhowal village in Nawanshahr.

Amarjit Singh, a cattle trader from Chimna village in Ludhiana’s Jagraon tehsil, pegs the total rearing cost for a two-year-old cow ready for milking at Rs 80,000-85,000. “Farmers normally earn a profit of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 per cow. That, however, is ruled out at the current prices”, he admits. While there are buyers willing to pay higher rates against cheque payments, breeders are unwilling to accept these. “What if these bounce is what they tell me and I have no answer to that”, he adds.

“For us, this is a twin-blow. The first one came from the gau-rakshaks (self-styled cow protectors). And just when the threat from them was seemingly ebbing, thanks to the dressing down from the Prime Minister himself, we have been delivered a fatal one from notebandi (demonetisation)”, complains Mehar Singh. This trader from Rampur Kaleran village in Bassi Pathana tehsil of Fatehgarh Sahib district, hardly a month back, saw his vehicles transporting 30 heifers to Uttarakhand being impounded by gau-rakshaks. He managed to retrieve them with police intervention – but only after shelling out Rs 15,000.

What remains to be seen is the impact all this could have on India’s milk production. To the extent this takes place, forcing large-scale import of milk powder and butter oil in the days to come, it could well be an unintended outcome of gau-rakshak vigilantism and notebandi.

Written by Partha Sarathi Biswas | Loni (maharashtra) | Published:January 5, 2017 12:49 am
http://indianexpress.com/article/in...ttle-market-loni-maharashtra-farmers-4459264/
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The cattle market at Loni, Maharashtra. (Source: Express photo by Partha Sarathi Biswas)

For Munnabhai Jaghirdar, October-January is when business is brisk, with farmers flush with cash from sale of their kharif crop and spending this money also on purchase of cows – which is what this trader at the Loni cattle market in Ahmednagar district’s Rahata taluka deals in. For farmers, this is an opportune time to buy because the winter and spring months coincide with milk production from animals, too, peaking. As more milk flows from their udders, the faster is the payback on investment; this is simple economics.

The cattle trade is wholly in cash. Kamleshbhai Patel, a farmer from Vaghaldhara village in Gujarat’s Valsad district, has travelled over 200 km to the Loni market. “We had good rains this year. People in my village alone planned to purchase roughly 50 animals. But since nobody had enough cash and the traders here don’t take cheques, we ended up buying only five”, he says.

Vipulbhai Chaudhary from Dena village of Vadodara had to similarly return empty-handed, after his repeated attempts to get traders at Loni to accept cheque payment failed. Manojbhai Patel, whose village of Balwada in Navsari district’s Chikhli taluka is 250 km from Loni, has also been unsuccessful in acquiring new animals, which he always does at this time. “My milk payments have been deposited in my bank account. But given the cash crunch and long queues, I’ve been unable to draw money to pay the cattle traders”, he complains.

“Suppose these bounce, what would we, then, do?”, is the response of Bhikan Dagdu Pathan, a trader at Loni, when asked why he is unwilling to accept cheques. “We have always done this business in cash. Most of us don’t even know the way banks work”, claims Vikhan Bhailam, a fellow trader.

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Farmers and traders at the cattle mandi in Loni. (Source: Express photo by Partha Sarathi Biswas)

There is a vibrant trade linking Loni’s cattle market to dairy farmers of Gujarat, having primarily to do with the strong milk cooperative movement in that state. The remunerative milk prices given by dairies make it worthwhile for Gujarat’s farmers to invest in high-yielding crossbred animals. Since these farmers want practically ready-to-milk animals whose produce can be straightaway sold to unions affiliated to Amul – the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation – it has spawned a complementary business of calf-rearing in states like Maharashtra and Punjab (see separate story). The latter breeder-farmers, in turn, supply mature milch animals to their Gujarat counterparts through traders like Pathan and Bhailam.

“We source animals from farmers in Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur, and bring these to Loni. Thanks to the good road connectivity from Surat, Ahmedabad or Mehsana, the Gujarat farmers come here to buy directly from us. The animals travel back with the farmers in their trucks”, explains Pathan.

That trade has, however, been a casualty of demonetisation. With cash-strapped farmers in no position to make purchases, two-year-old cows capable of giving 20 litres milk daily are currently selling at an average of Rs 65,000, as against Rs 80,000 or so prior to demonetisation.

“Ordinarily, we would have expected prices to go up this time. The good rains and improved fodder availability should have triggered higher animal demand from farmers. Instead, we are seeing lower prices and hardly any purchases”, points out Mote.

The declining investment in new animals by farmers – for reasons unrelated to demand – is ironically happening even with milk shortages developing, following two consecutive drought years. Replenishment of dairy stock by farmers at this time is important, especially to help maintain milk output in the ‘lean’ summer months when production by animals tends to fall in the natural course.

The Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, which markets dairy products under the ‘Gukul’ brand, only on December 31, raised its procurement price for cow milk containing 3.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF (solids-not-fat) from Rs 22.80 to Rs 24 per litre. Earlier, on December 27, the Maharashtra government-owned Aarey Dairy revised upwards the purchase price for the same quality of milk at its Worli plant in Mumbai from Rs 21.25 to Rs 22.50 a litre.

“Prices are likely to go up further in the coming weeks, as the effects of lower production catches up”, warns Dashrath Shrirang Mane, chairman of the Pune-based Indapur Dairy and Milk Products Ltd. His company, which is Maharashtra’s biggest private dairy and sells under the ‘Sonai’ brand, is currently processing 10 lakh litres per day of milk. Last year, at the same time, it was handling 22 lakh litres daily.
 
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HY07DEONI


Genetic material: Deoni cattle at the breeding centre at Gottigarpally in Kohir mandal in Sangareddy district. | Photo Credit: Mohd Arif;Mohd Arif
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...i-cattle-breeding-station/article17001125.ece


The purebred drought resistant cattle in the farm to be auctioned
The Government has decided to down the shutters on the only cattle breeding farm in the State.

The 46 cattle, including 20 pure Deoni breed, at the farm in this village near Zaheerabad are to be auctioned in the next few weeks. In all probability these animals would end up at the mechanised slaughter house in the district.

The cattle breeding farm was established in 1980 with an intention to promote Deoni breed that is native to Zaheerabad in Telangana, Bidar in Karnataka and Latur in Maharashtra. Deoni is small village located near Bidar and all these areas were under the rule of Nizams. “Deoni cattle are having unique genetic material and hardy animal with majestic features. They have drooping ears, bulged forehead and body colour is spotted black and white. The animal can survives severe drought conditions. This breed needs to be promoted on the lines of Ongole breed. We had sent a proposal to the Union Government for research station at an estimated cost of 7 crore under Gokul Gram scheme,” Dr. Lakshma Reddy, Additional Director, Animal Husbandry, told The Hindu.

The Government of Karanataka has a breeding and research centre in neighbouring Bidar district while the centre here is being closed down.

The State Government has completely neglected the farm and slowly started withdrawing the staff and now there is only one veterinary doctor and six labourers. For the past one year even the budget was not sanctioned for the farm. The farm management asked a mechanised slaughter house (Allana) to pay ₹36,000 for feed and maintenance of the animals during summer. The farm authorities proposed that the purebred cattle be donated to three Goshalas located at Zaheerabad, Beeramguda and Patancheru. However, a senior official from Hyderabad turned down the proposal and directed them to auction the animals. “Once auctioned they may end up at slaughter houses,” said a veterinarian.
 
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Three calves produced from frozen IVF embryos of Tharparkar breed of Rajasthan, at Dr Vijaypat Singhania Centre of Excellence for Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Livestock' at Gopalnagar near Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. PTI Photo
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hy19Ammapalli_

A step well at Ammapalli stands as an example of years of neglect.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...n-step-wells-of-Telangana/article17056598.ece

HYDERABAD: January 19, 2017 00:44 IST
Updated: January 19, 2017 02:11 IST



Official records show that there are just 41 step wells in the State while a survey by HDF finds 75 more

Imagine being in an arid, parched part of the youngest State of India. You badly want water, but all you see is miles of nothingness. And suddenly you find several flights of stairs leading to water.

No, its not a mirage! These are ‘step wells’ - wonderful structures that are now virtually forgotten. They are in a shambles and in a state of disuse. According to official records, there are just 41 of these in the State.

In contrast, a team of Hyderabad Design Forum (HDF), a guild of architects with an archaeological bent of mind, that undertook a three-week survey found 75 more of such step wells, across the State with the exception of the twin cities and Mahabubnagar district.

The HDF focussed on three of them for a closer analysis - Kolanpaka in Aler mandal, Rachakonda in Narayanpur mandal of Nalgonda district and Raigir in Bhongir mandal of Yadadri district. On the sidelines of the recently-concluded international seminar on archaeology titled ‘Rediscovering Telangana’, Yeshwant Ramamurthy of the forum said they were yet to complete the survey.

However, he drew attention to the point that after it was completed and the number of step wells established more accurately, they could go about their restoration.

Once restored, they could be integrated with the Telangana government’s Mission Kakatiya programme of restoring tanks and wells in the State to see that they could store water during monsoon. He hastened to add though, that it was too early to be talking of the extent of land they could irrigate.

The immediate benefits of such a drive would be that they would have water that could be used for drinking too, considering that on an average, each of them holds about 24 lakh litres.

“There is a scientific angle too. During Bathukamma, women play with floral decorations and they finally immerse them in the nearest water source - in this case, these wells. Natural beauty agents in these flowers dissolve in the water and purify it, giving them medicinal properties,” he said.

The HDF heard other interesting tales. There was a ‘dongala baavi’ (well of thieves) in Medak district where robbers would split the loot at night and a ‘Sringara baavi’ which the legendary Rani Rudrama Devi would visit at night for her beauty bath, disguised as a boy!
 
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21VJ_CATTLE_HOSTEL

Cattle hostel managing Committee member Zubaida Bi feeding buffaloes at Thadakanapalle village in Kurnool district on Friday. — | Photo Credit: U_SUBRAMANYAM
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...st-cattle-hostel-in-State/article17069547.ece

Committee is overseeing the cleaning and feeding of cattle, charging Rs. 100 per head per day

KURNOOL: Ksheerasagara Sadanam, a cattle hostel built with NREGS funds of ₹2 crore on the outskirts of Thadakanapalle village in Kallur mandal in Kurnool district, envisaged to accommodate 300 cattle in four sheds, has only 35 buffaloes and a dozen calves in one shed.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the cattle hostel, said to be the first of its kind in the State, on January 2 as part of Swacha Bharat Abhiyan to ensure cleanliness of farmers’ houses by shifting cattle to the outskirts, but only five farmers volunteered to keep their 35 buffaloes there, and of them 10 are milk-yielding. An equal number of cattle can be accommodated in the first shed and three more sheds are vacant.

Farmers in Thadakanapalle have 102 buffaloes, while adjoining Vamasamudram, Obulapuram Thanda and Bhairavapuram too own cattle, and efforts are being made to persuade farmers to leave their cattle in the hostel, cattle hostel managing committee member Zubaida Bi told The Hindu in Thadakanapalle.

The committee is overseeing the cleaning and feeding of the cattle, and the farmers are milking their cattle now. Water supply has been arranged for the cattle sheds. An electric milching machine was procured, but farmers are reluctant to use it.

The buffaloes are fed with one kg of protein-rich azolla, 15 kg silage, two kg of cattle feed, 10 kg of ‘danamrutham’ processed grass. The farmer has to pay ₹100 per buffalo per day for it, Ms. Zubaida Bi said.

A villager Chand Bi said her eight buffaloes, which gave 12 litres of milk earlier, were now giving 20 litres of milk. A veterinary doctor Nagaraju of Chinnatekur examined the cattle and said they needed deworming.

The village tank was desilted and it led to recharging of about 200 borewells. Women of 552 families in the village are members of a Gramaikya Sangham and 250 women were allotted 125 acres of land for farming in 2014. Ninety-three vermicompost units were sanctioned, and of them, 68 were ready.

Avenue plantation was taken up with 1,700 plants in Thadakanapalle, which has cement roads, DWMA assistant project director H.D. Eeranna, who is Panyam cluster in charge, said.
 
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The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated the Krishi Samridhi – Rashtriya Krishi Mela, Chhattisgarh 2017, at Raipur, Chhattisgarh on January 27, 2017.
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Ministry of Agriculture
06-February, 2017 18:19 IST
Percentage of milk producers/farmers with bank accounts increase from 49.27% to 63.42% after demonetization

Cashless transaction to milk producers/farmers increases from 23.82% to 72.25% after demonetization



Consequent upon the Central Governments decisions of demonetization, certain unintended impacts have been observed especially in the sectors thriving upon sheer cash transactions. In this regard, non-availability of funds to the co-operative banks for making payments to Milk producers/farmers by dairy co-operative against the milk supplied by them came to the notice of the Government.



Responding promptly to the prevailing situation of reported payment problems, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has regularly reviewed and directed to take appropriate action to alleviate the problems. Meetings with Mother Dairy, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Fed (GCMMF) /Amul, Delhi Milk Scheme and other State Co-operative Dairy Federations are taken at regular intervals.



In order to take stock of the prevailing situation, the Secretary Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Shri Devendra Chaudhry has accordingly convened a series of meetings and initiated actions for streamlining the payment system to Milk producers and even sale of milk to consumers through cashless transactions primarily.



GCMMF/Amul has been specifically directed to ensure 100% milk producers accounts to be opened by 30th December, 2016. Similarly, other co-operatives have been directed to ensure the opening of 100% accounts of milk producers/farmers by 30th January, 2017.



Specific instructions have been issued to all the agencies such as National Dairy Development Board, Mother Dairy, Delhi Milk Scheme and all state Dairy co-operative federations for ensuring direct payment to milk producer’s bank account at the earliest. Low penetration of nationalized banks and co-operative bank accounts in rural areas need adequate financial support with appropriate safe guards. This department vides D.O. letters dated 06.12.2016 have taken up the matter with the Department of Economic Affairs and Reserve Bank of India to provide necessary funding support to the cooperative banks in rural areas with appropriate safeguard to protect the interest of milk producers and for timely payment of the milk supplied by them.



It is to be noted that there are 1.70 lakh Dairy Co-operative Societies (DCS) at village level having 1.6 crore milk producers affiliated with 218 milk unions. About 850 lakh litres per day Milk is procured totally, of which co-operative sector procures about 425 lakh litres per day and about 425 lakh litres per day is procured by private sector. The value of the milk procured by Village level DCS is to the tune of rupees 120 crore per day. For weekly and 10 days payment cycle the substantive amount is to be disbursed to lakhs of milk producers spread over varied geographical areas.



Using the window of opportunity opened by the demonetization decision, it is high time to accelerate the opening of bank accounts of all those unbanked milk producers to make it cashless and digital sooner than later. Eventually, transparency saving habits, financial enclosure etc. would be benefiting milk producer in multiple ways.



The situation of easing the payment to milk producers is being reviewed and monitored periodically by the Central Government.

1. The percentage of farmers with bank accounts has increased from 49.27% to 63.42%.

2. The cashless transaction to farmers after demonetization has increased from 23.82% to 72.25%.

3. Due to close follow up, now only 27.75% farmers are being paid through cash, balance through bank accounts. Further that, the sale of milk has gone up by 2.81% in December 2016 as compared to December 2015 and the overall sale of milk from April- Dec 2016 has gone up to 328.91 lakh litres per day as compared to 321.43 lakh litres per day in April- Dec 2015.

It is evident from the above facts that situation regarding making cashless payment to the farmers has considerably improved over last two months and there is no negative impact of demonetization.

*****
 
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Ministry of Agriculture07-February, 2017 16:49 IST
BULL Mother Farms

Under Rashtriya Gokul Mission, all the bull mother farms available with State Governments and State Implementing Agencies/ State Livestock Development Boards are covered for modernization and strengthening of existing infra structure. Details of the bull mother farms available with State Governments and State Implementing Agencies/ State Livestock Development Boards is given below in table.



Government is undertaking establishment of two National Kamdhenu Breeding Centres in the Country. An amount of Rs.25.00 Crore has been released to Madhya Pradesh for establishment of National Kamdhenu Breeding Centre in Itarsi, Hoshangabad in Northern region of India and Rs 25 crore has been released to Andhra Pradesh for establishment of National Kamdhenu Breeding Centre in Chintaladevi, Nellore in Southern region of India.

In order to complement and supplement efforts made by the State for strengthening infrastructure available at bull mother farms Government of India has undertaken following steps:

i) Replacement of poor genetic merit stock with high genetic merit bull mothers

ii) Modernization and strengthening of existing cattle sheds

iii) Replacement of agricultural implements for in-house fodder production.

Sr. No.
States
No. of Bull mother farms


1
Andhra Pradesh
3

2
Arunachal Pradesh
10

3

Assam

11

4

Bihar

3

5

Chattisgarh

4

6

Goa

3

7

Gujarat

5

8

Himachal Pradesh

6

9

Haryana

3

10

Jammu & Kashmir

3

11

Jharkhand

3

12

Karnataka

9

13

Kerala

7

14

Madhya Pradesh

7

15

Maharashtra

10

16

Manipur

2

17

Meghalaya

4

18

Mizoram

6

19

Nagaland

6

20

Odisha

10

21

Puducherry

1

22

Punjab

1

23

Rajasthan

9

24

Sikkim


25

Tamil Nadu

14

26

Telangana

1

27

Tripura

1

28

Uttar Pradesh

11

29

Uttarakhand

5

30

West Bengal

10

31

Andaman & Nicobar

2

32

Lakshadweep

2



Total

172


This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.


AK

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Ministry of Agriculture
07-February, 2017 16:46 IST
Steps taken to Promote Fisheries under the scheme of Blue Revolution

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare under the Central Plan Scheme on Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries provides financial assistance to all State Governments and Union Territories including Lakshadweep for promoting fisheries Sector. The Blue Revolution Scheme, with its multi-dimensional activities, focuses mainly on increasing fisheries production and productivity from aquaculture and fisheries resources. Besides, the Administration of Lakshadweep is also implementing schemes for development of fisheries.


The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry has convened a meeting of officials of Kerala State Cooperative Federation for Fisheries Development Ltd. (MATSYAFED), National Institute of Fisheries Post Harvest Technology and Training (NIFPHATT) and a representative exporter to explore the export prospects of tuna from Lakshadweep on 06-01-2017. One of the exporters has shown interest in setting up of tuna processing facility in Lakshadweep with the technical assistance from Japan. A team from the exporter side visited the Island during the second week of January, 2017. MPEDA has offered all possible assistance in this regard.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.


AK
 
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...g-of-quality-local-cattle/article17336430.ece
KOPPAL February 21, 2017 00:46 IST
Updated: February 21, 2017 00:46 IST

A. Manju, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture, said that for the first time in the State a local cattle breed semen processing centre is being established at Munirabad in Koppal district.

“The government has earmarked ₹3 crore to set up the centre to promote breeding of quality local cattle, including Amrut Mahal, Khilar, Devani, Hallikar, Malnadgidda, and Krishna valley, and enhance milk production. The centre would be functional in six months,” he said after laying the foundation for the centre on Monday.

Mr. Manju said the semen of the local breed collected at the centre would be distributed to various places to breed the cattle suitable to the region.

According to him, milk production in the State, which was around 59 lakh litres per day, had gone up to 72 lakh litres and was being procured from nine lakh farmers. The State government has enhanced the incentive to milk producers from ₹4 to ₹5 and has been ensuring that the amount was being transferred into the farmer’s bank account.

“Farmers, along with cultivation, should also take up allied activities, including dairy, and sheep, goat and silk rearing to enhance their income,” he said.
 
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Ministry of Agriculture
28-February, 2017 17:11 IST
Shri Parshottam Rupala inaugurates NDDB’s national workshop on improving feed production efficiency & quality control aspects of cattle feed plants

Shri Rupala launches NDDB’s Cattle Feed Knowledge Portal

The Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala has said that agriculture is the back bone of rural economy in the country and dairying plays an important role in it. Even though India is the largest milk producer in the world, there is ample scope to improve per animal productivity. Shri Rupala stated it while inaugurating a National Workshop on Improving Feed Production Efficiency & Quality Control Aspects of Cattle Feed Plants organized by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Anand, today. Shri Dilip Patel, Member of Parliament, Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, NDDB and Dr HPS Makkar, FAO, Rome graced the occasion. Around 200 cattle feed plant professionals from all over the country participated.

Shri Rupala said that with the increase in demand for milk, productivity of dairy animals should increase. It is time to refocus our efforts in providing good quality feed and mineral mixture and put up concerted efforts in promoting different variants of compound cattle feed for different categories of animals. For ensuring quality in feed production, we need to have qualified trained manpower, efficient plants and machinery and technical expertise to produce right type of feeds. Shri Rupala thanked NDDB for organizing this workshop to address all these issues with participation from dairy cooperatives all over the country. The Minister hoped that this workshop will discuss ways to achieve global standards in the feed production and requested NDDB to take benefit from budget allocation by Government of India for modernization of dairy technology.

Shri Parshottam Rupala also launched NDDB’s Cattle Feed Knowledge Portal, an interactive knowledge platform on various aspects of compound cattle feed production. The portal will also have information on least cost formula for feeds, suppliers of feed ingredients, raw material specifications as well as a discussion forum to share information.

Shri Dilip Patel released a booklet titled Understanding Your Bovine. The booklet creates awareness on easily discernible signs of bovines so that corrective measures can be taken for management, feeding, health, hygiene practices, levels of discomfort etc, thereby avoid losses which at times could be disastrous.

While delivering the welcome address, Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, NDDB said that India’s model of milk production is based on feeding crop residues and agricultural by-products and using family labour to add value to resources which otherwise have limited alternative economic value. It is in this context that the role of compound cattle feed in animal nutrition to help support the increase in milk production becomes significant. The Chairman said that feeding balanced ration can help the milch animals produce milk commensurate with their genetic potential with the attendant benefits of lower cost, increased SNF, higher immunity to disease, improved reproductive efficiency and reduced methane emissions. In the absence of adequate quantity of quality green fodder, concentrate feeds provide bulk of essential nutrients in the diet of dairy animals.

The Chairman, NDDB informed that the dairy cooperative network produces about 3.6 million tonnes per annum with an installed capacity of about 5 million tonnes in 70 cattle feed plants. In addition the private sector produces an additional 4.5 million tonnes. A total of 8 million tonnes per annum is sufficient for only about 8 million of the more than 100 million breedable animals.

During the workshop issues related to cattle feed production, quality control aspects in a feed plant, improving feed production efficiency, latest trends in feed milling operation, least cost feed formulation and modernization of a quality control lab were discussed in details.

***
 
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Ministry of Agriculture


28-March, 2017 17:20 IST
Allocation under Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Government of India has initiatedRashtriyaGokul Mission in December 2014 exclusively for the development and conservation of indigenous breeds in a scientific and holistic manner with an allocation of Rs.500crore for the first time in the country.Gokul Grams are being established under the scheme which will function as centres for the development and protection of Indigenous Cattle breeds.


Funds have been sanctioned under the scheme for the establishment of 14 Gokul Grams in the country. Details of gokul grams is as under:


State
No. of Gokul Grams

Andhra Pradesh
1

Chattisgarh
2

Gujarat
1

Haryana
2

Karnataka
1

Maharashtra
3

Madhya Pradesh
1

Punjab
1

Uttar Pradesh
2

TOTAL
14


The details of funds released under RashtriyaGokul Mission during the last 2 years and the current year State wise and year wise is given below.


The aim of these centres is to develop and conserve existing indigenous breeds recognised by National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.No new breeds are proposed to be developed at these centres.


Provision has been made under the scheme for training of man power required for implementation of the scheme.


Funds Released for implementation of RashtriyaGokul Mission part of National programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development

Rs in lakh
S. No
State


2014-15
2015-16
2016-17


1

Andhra Pradesh

400.00
-
0


2
Arunachal Pradesh
0.00
111.00
0

3
Assam
150.00
-
0

4
Bihar
0.00
350.00
0

5
Chhattisgarh
729.00
-
0

6
Gujarat
0.00
803.22
0

7
Haryana
200.00
-
1000.00

8
Himachal Pradesh
350.00
-
0

9
Jammu & Kashmir
0.00
25.00
0

10
Jharkhand
35.00
-
200.00

11
Karnataka
0.00
60.00
0

12
Kerala
250.00
400.00
200.00

13
Madhya Pradesh
2000.00
1881.50
500.00

14
Maharashtra
100.00
-
1250.00

15
Manipur
450.00
280.02
220.82

16
Mizoram
0.00
50.45
0

17
Nagaland
448.00
350.10
31.91

18
Odisha
856.00
-
900.00

19
Punjab
0.00
600.00
0

20
Rajasthan
300.00
-
0

21
Sikkim
450.00
-
0

22
Tamil Nadu
1776.00
-
750.00

23
Telangana
300.00
-
0

24
Tripura
417.00
-
327.00

25

UP
800.00
200.00
0

26
Uttarakhand
500.00
-
500.00

27
West Bengal
0.00
480.28
0


Total
10511.00
5591.57
5879.71

Note : Initiated by the Government from December 2014.


This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri SudarshanBhagat, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Ministry of Agriculture
28-March, 2017 17:19 IST
Value of Output of Milk at Current Prices Rs.5,00,405 Crore in 2014-15

As per National Account Statistics Report, 2016, the value of output of milk at current prices was Rs.5,00,405 crore in 2014-15, while at constant prices (2011-12) it was 3,89,846 crore. As compared to last year, the growth in value of output of milk is about 7.4 percent at constant prices.

As per National Dairy Development Board, it is estimated that out of total milk production 46% is consumed locally, and 54 % is marketable surplus. The share of organized sector in the total marketable surplus of milk is about 30%, while the balance 70% is handled by the unorganized sector. Of the total organized liquid milk market, the cooperatives and private dairy sector have almost equal share.

The GDP estimates of milk industry are not available separately, although, the contribution of livestock sector to the country’s GDP is about 4 percent. Also, the share of value of output of milk group in the total livestock sector is about 67%.

Dairy is an important source of additional income for the farmers. Availability of milk processing facility and other infrastructure will benefit the farmers through value addition. A large number of milk processing units set up under the Operation Flood Programme has since become old and obsolete. A Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund would be set up in NABARD with a corpus of Rs. 8,000 crores over 3 years. Initially, the Fund will start with a corpus of Rs. 2,000 crores.

Currently milk cooperatives convert about 20% of milk procurement into conventional & other Value Added Products.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri SudarshanBhagat, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

************


Ministry of Agriculture
28-March, 2017 17:05 IST
NBPGR conserves 64,829 traditional seed varieties in Gene Banks

The Government has a policy to encourage conservation of the seeds of traditional varieties of various crops. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) has conserved 64,829 traditional varieties in Gene Banks located in different States.

The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority (PPV & FRA) has also registered 1070 traditional varieties of different crops. PPV & FRA encourages the community and individuals engaged in conservation, improvement and preservation of plant genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives particularly in the areas identified as agro-biodiversity hotspots by awarding the community and individuals who have played stellar roles in such activities.

NBPGR and PPV & FRA organizes biodiversity awareness programmes and training for farmers to strengthen community seed system and create awareness to conserve indigenous crop varieties and climate resilient traditional land races of local crops every year.

As collection and conservation of traditional varieties is a continuous activity, 42 exploration and collection missions will be undertaken mainly to collect traditional varieties from tribal areas in the next year by NBPGR.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

************

Ministry of Agriculture
28-March, 2017 17:00 IST
361 Mandis of 11 States integrate with E-Nam

429 Mandis of 14 states approve in Principle

The Government has received proposals from 16 States for linking their 676 mandis with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) portal. The list of proposals received from States is given below.


Proposals received from 14 States for integrating their 429 mandis have been approved in principle by the Government. 361 mandis of 11 States have been integrated with e-NAM as on date.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

***************


Ministry of Agriculture
28-March, 2017 16:59 IST
6 Crore Soil Health Cards Distributed

The Government has introduced Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme with an aim to provide soil health cards to all farm holdings across the country once in a cycle of two years. Uniform norms of 10 hectares for rainfed areas and 2.5 hectare for irrigated areas constitute the grid for soil sample collection. Uniform norms of testing 12 parameters is followed namely major nutrients (N, P, K), secondary nutrients (S), micro-nutrients (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn & B) and others (pH, EC & OC). The State Government through its Department of Agriculture is nodal agency to issue soil health card to farmers.

So far against the target of 14 crore cards distribution, 6 crore cards have been distributed and remaining cards are under printing. Adequate funds have been released to all States, funds amounting to Rs 23.89 crore, Rs 96.44 crore and Rs 126.47 crore have been released during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively under the scheme.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
 
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Ministry of Agriculture
01-April, 2017 17:17 IST
Government of India has taken a number of steps for the promotion as well as conservation of livestock extending benefits to the farmers

It is a result of the initiative taken by the Government of India that country is enjoying the first rank in milk production in the world.



Apart from this, country has acquired third rank in egg production



Orissa Agriculture and Technological University (OUAT) has established 31 KVKs with 100% financial assistance of ICAR

Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh addressed the people on the inauguration of International Centre for FMD (ICFMD) in Arugul, Jatni, Bhubaneswar.

Bhubneswar: Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that Government of India has taken a number of steps for the promotion as well as conservation of livestock extending benefits to the farmers. He further said that healthy livestock is conducive for the welfare of the farmers. If livestock are healthy, the income of the farmers will increase. It is a result of the initiative taken by the Government of India that country is enjoying the first rank in milk production in the world. Apart from this country has acquired third rank in egg production. The Minister of Agriculture stated it on the inauguration of International Centre for FMD (ICFMD) in Arugul, Jatni, Bhubneswar.

The Minister of Agriculture has narrated that for the first time in the country, a Pashudhan Sanjivani Nakul Swasth Patra Scheme has been launched for sustaining the health of livestock. Along with this UID is framing out the identity base of the livestock as well as a national data related thereof. For the first time in the country, a new initiative entitled as Rashtriya Gokul Mission along with the allocation of Rs. 500 crores has been initiated in December 2014 for the conservation as well promotion of domestic species under National Bovine Genetic and Dairy Development programme. Under this mission 14 gokul villages are being established and 41 livestock zones are being made sophisticated with more allocated funds for the improvement in bulls species. A National Bovine Genetic Centre has been established for the improvement in domestic species. For the first time in the country e-livestock portal has been launched.

The Minister of Agriculture on this occasion realized that virus borne FMD as well as influenza like disorders pose serious challenges for the health of livestock. The bovines, buffaloes as well as pig species are mainly affected through these disorders. More than 50 crores livestock across the country are very much prone to these disorders. The Minister of Agriculture added that his government is doing his best for the prevention of FMD.

The Minister of Agriculture while expressing his expectations said that this International Laboratory will play an important role for the management of this disorder along with the infrastructures of bio security and bio-control in the arena of global as well as SAARC partnership. The Minister also praised the scientists and officers associated with this laboratory for their mention worthy performance.

The Minister of Agriculture laid the foundation of KVK in Orissa Agriculture and Technology University in Bhubaneswar. On this eve, Union Petroleum Minister Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan and VC, Orissa Agriculture & Technology University, Prof. S. Pasupalak were also present.

On this juncture, the Minister of Agriculture opined that Orissa Agriculture & Technology University had been established so as to meet the necessities of the farmers in the state. This is the second largest university in the country and the only agriculture university in the state. He briefed that 31 KVKs have been set up with 100% financial assistance under ICAR which are working as on farm testing, frontline demonstration, skill oriented training, zonal day as well as farmers fair centres along with pioneering the multidimensional technological transfer to the required spots under Orissa Agriculture & Technology University, Bhubaneswar. He further said that farmer’s First programme being conducted in Khorda district aimed at bringing about an improvement in farm productivity as well as benefits by transforming the middle to high costing production systems with participation approach. A project named as Arya is being organized in Nayagarh district of the state with the objective for attracting the youth towards agriculture entrepreneurs innovation sector. The Minister further added that he is feeling a great sense of elation while laying the stone of administrative buildings in Puri, Bolangir, Brahmpur, Gangamscond and Joshipur Mayurbhanj as second project meant for four KVKs with the financial outlay of Rs. 144.38 lakhs for each centres on behalf of Government of India through Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.

The Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh participated 31 Foundation Day of ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, (CIFA) Bhubaneswar, Odisha thereafter.

On this occasion the Minister of Agriculture congratulated the officers and employees of the institute for 31 foundation day. This institute ICAR-CIFA was established on 1st April 1987 under the auspices of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. He further added that this institute has earned a specific identity on national and international level in arena of freshwater creature culture due to hard work exercised out by the scientists, officers and employees.

Thereafter, the Minister participated Utkal Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UCCI Expo 2017 in IDCO Exhibition Ground, Bhubaneswar. On this eve, Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, GoI, Shri Devi Prasad Mishra, Minister for Industries, School and Mass Education, Government of Orissa were also present. On this occasion he said that National Agriculture Policy provides for utilizing the potentialities existed in Indian Agriculture sector in forthcoming two decades, strengthening rural grass root level infrastructure for expediting the development process in agricultural arena. He further added that National Agriculture Policy also provides for creating the opportunities of employment in rural areas, upliftment of the status for agricultural labourers and their households, discouraging their migration to the urban areas, economic liberalization and coping with the challenges emerging out of globalization.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath feeds a cow during his visit to a gaushala run by Mulayam Singh Yadavs daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav in Lucknow.

582795-010417-gs-03.jpg


Devotees during Mallalurammas Jatra Mahotsava at Mallalur near Chikmagalur in Karnataka.

582794-010417-gs-02.jpg
 
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