10 mn cows to be inseminated, tagged, tracked by March
SO FAR, 0.36 MILLION CATTLE HAVE BEEN INSEMINATED WITH SEMEN FROM BETTER INDIGENOUS BREEDS
NEW DELHI: The government is planning to introduce an Aadhaar-like identification among the country’s cattle population in a project to improve breeds and promote conservation, according to officials aware of the initiative.
In 28 states, nearly 10,000 vets are artificially breeding cows and female bovines with semen of high-productivity bulls. They seek to target 10 million by March next year, under the National Artificial Insemination Programme, launched by PM Narendra Modi in September.
So far, 0.36 million cattle have been inseminated with better indigenous breeds, such as Sahiwal, Rathi and Tharparkar, an official said.
While the programme focuses on conserving highyielding indigenous stock, the 2019 livestock census revealed that the population of foreign-bred cows had risen 27%, while that of indigenous cattle had dropped 6%. India’s cattle population in 2019 was 192.49 million, according to the census.
Each animal is then eartagged with ‘Pashu Aadhaar’, a unique animal ID with details such as the breed, age and owner details, which is then tracked through the Information Network on Animal Productivity and Health database.
Some are alarmed. “There have been a lot of restrictions already on cattle trade. This has hit farm incomes hard. Why do they want to track every cattle?” asks Ram Ratan, a leader of the All-indian Kisan Sabha from Rajasthan’s Sikar district.
Rejecting the apprehensions, Rajesh Babu, a veterinary official involved in the drive in Andhra Pradesh, said monitoring will help to track productivity and health outcomes.
The cow is holy to the Hindu faith. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government, which runs official programmes for cow conservation, however has been a laggard, along with Haryana and Chhattisgarh. UP has 75 districts under the project and a larger cattle population relative to other states. Yet, it has been able to inseminate 23521 animals, against Andhra Pradesh’s 27397 since September.
The plan is part of a larger programme, the National Animal Disease Control Programme, to eradicate foot and mouth disease and brucellosis among the livestock, a major reason for low milk productivity in the world’s largest milk producer.
In the 112 so-called “aspirational districts” identified by Niti Aayog for economic development, artificial insemination coverage ranges between 10 to 15% on average, compared to a national average of 30%. “This indicates poor implementation of breeding programmes,” the official cited in the first instance said.