“Almost half of the livestock of the country is still unclassified. We have to identify such unique breeds as soon as possible so that these unclassified breeds can be saved’, said Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in his address at the Ceremony for Distribution of Animal Breed Registration Certificates on Thursday.
Tomar said there are a large number of indigenous breeds of livestock in the country, which need to be identified in all regions. This will help make the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry sector prosperous.
He expressed happiness that ICAR is working in this direction and a special campaign has been launched to identify such breeds in the country. Such a task is not an easy one and cannot be accomplished without working in Mission Mode in collaboration with all the stakeholders, he underlined.
Complimenting all the applicants of new breeds from different parts of the country, Tomar said that these indigenous breeds are unique, which also shows the vastness of diversity present in all regions.
Animal husbandry has historically been an integral part of agriculture since the time of development of human civilizations. This is even more relevant in a country like ours, where a large section of the society is actively engaged and dependent on Animal Husbandry. Our country is rich in animal biodiversity and people have been rearing different types of species since ages.
These species have been used for various purposes such as food, fiber, transportation, manure, agricultural purposes, etc. In the past, our farmers have developed many specific breeds of these species, which are adapted to that climatic condition. The whole world is currently looking at India’s grand diversity in the livestock and poultry sector. Efforts to document animal genetic resources in the country and preserve their genetic diversity have also been lauded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the international level.
On this occasion, breed registration certificates of 28 newly registered breeds were distributed, including 10 breeds of cattle, 5 of pig, 4 of buffalo, 3 each of goat and dog, one each of sheep, donkey and duck.
In order to claim sovereignty over these indigenous breeds, DARE has started notifying all registered breeds in the Gazette from the year 2019. Officers of DAHD, ICAR and its institutes and Vice Chancellors of various universities were present in the programme.
