Workshop on livestock sector held

A Correspondent

Shillong, July 4: The Livestock Production Division of the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) and National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad on Wednesday jointly organised a one-day workshop on “Indian Livestock farming and use of biotechnology.

The workshop was meant to understand the problems in animal husbandry and production with the ultimate goal of enhancing the income of the farmers and development in the Livestock sector in the North Eastern Region. A total of 80 livestock farmers and 17 veterinarians from North-eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura participated in the program.

This is for the first time that ICAR and NIAB organised a program for the benefit of the farmers of the region. The central idea of the workshop was to understand the recent burning and pending problems of farmers and veterinarians in the grass root level and understanding the scope of modern biotechnology in solving these problems.

The farmers who attended the programme were selected from the Prime Minister’s aspiration districts of all the North-eastern states.

In the inaugural programme, AKK Rawat, Director, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, New Delhi while addressing the gathering as the chief guest said that ICAR is the only institute which has direct interaction with the farmers and is in close proximity with them which makes ICAR unique in itself.

Rawat further emphasised on the maximum use of technology for the benefit of the farmers. He said that problems vary from region to region and the solution should be region specific and the motive should be prioritizing the farmers.

Dr N. Prakash, Director ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, emphasised on the importance of livestock in the region and said that the region has high meat consumption rate.

Meanwhile, the guest of honour Subeer S Majumdar, Director, NIAB briefed on the importance of knowing the real issues of the farmers which needs to be attended to seriously to facilitate their livelihood and income.

Dr Majumdar further added that the all the members attending the workshop should make the most out of it.

The technical session witnessed farmers-scientists interaction in which the existing problems and issues in livestock rearing in the region were comprehensively and systematically discussed with livestock farmer and field veterinarians.

The scientists have understood the existing grass-root problems faced by farmers and field veterinarian of this region and accordingly road map will be laid for future research in the livestock sector.