Parshottam Rupala Calls for Creation of Animal Disease-Free Zones for Boosting Value-Added Meat Products

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying Parshottam Rupala has called on stakeholders to work together to create region-specific animal disease-free zones across the country in order to enhance exports of value-added meat products.

Rupala stated during the National Business Meet on promoting exports of value-added meat products organized by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in New Delhi that even if a single outbreak of disease among poultry birds occurs, the entire country is referred to as 'disease affected.'

"All stakeholders must take small steps and work to proclaim certain regions—a few districts at a time—as disease-free," Rupala added, referring to Sikkim's model of being labeled an organic state and its products command a premium in the market.

He stated that a survey involving all stakeholders is required to develop a road map with actionable points to make India disease-free in terms of animal health. "At the same time, we need an action plan for detecting contaminated areas and quarantining them, much like we did for COVID19 prevention," Rupala said.

While stating that the Ministry of Animal Husbandry is working to develop infrastructure to improve animal wellness, health, and nutrition in order to increase productivity and quality, he also stated that while the world recognizes India for administering a record number of COVID19 vaccinations, the government is currently running a massive vaccination drive for animals in order to eradicate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis among livestock.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control Program in September 2019 to control and eradicate FMD and Brucellosis among cattle in the country. The Centre has budgeted Rs.12652 crore under a Central Government-sponsored scheme to vaccinate more than 600 million cattle in the country in an effort to mitigate the two diseases.

APEDA promotes agricultural and animal fresh and processed product exports by establishing standards and specifications, suggesting and supporting packaging improvements, marketing strategies, facilitating product development for export, establishing export zones, and organizing Buyer-Seller meetings to connect our exporters with relevant importers in destination markets.

APEDA along with exporters has successfully written many success stories in several sectors like Mango, Grapes, Bananas, Bakery products, including Meat and meat products.