Enrich Agriculture & Animal Husbandry Sectors by Identifying Indigenous Livestock Breeds: Tomar

According to Narendra Singh Tomar, union agriculture and farmers welfare minister, several indigenous cattle breeds in the nation need to be discovered in every region. The area of agriculture and animal husbandry will benefit from this.

Tomar said this during a ceremony at the National Agricultural Science Center in New Delhi on Thursday.

The minister while addressing the audience said that that about half of cattle in India are still unidentified. Hence, we need to identify such distinctive breeds as soon as feasible so that they can be preserved.

He expressed his satisfaction that the ICAR is working in this area and work has already started to identify such breeds in the nation. He added that it is impossible to do such difficult work without the assistance of state universities, animal husbandry departments, NGOs, etc.

Along with all of these organizations, the ICAR has started documenting the Mission Mode of all national animal genetic resources. This sizable crew will complete the task of cataloging the nation's indigenous animal genetic resources.

Tomar appreciated all of the applications for new breeds from all sections of India and said that these native breeds are distinctive, demonstrating the immense diversity in every area.

Breed registration certificates for 28 newly registered breeds were handed out on this occasion, including those for 10 breeds of cattle, 5 species of pig, 4 breeds of buffalo, 3 breeds of dog and goat, and 1 breed each of sheep, donkey, and duck.

DARE has begun informing all registered breeds in the Gazette as of 2019 to assert sovereignty over these native breeds. Vice Chancellors from several institutions as well as officers from the DAHD, ICAR, and its institutes attended the program.