New Delhi: Almost half of the indigenous livestock breeds in the country are yet to be classified and there is a need to identify them in order to further boost the farm sector, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Thursday.
He also said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was working in this direction and a special campaign has also been launched to identify such breeds in the country.
“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,” Tomar said after giving away animal breed registration certificates at an event organised by the ICAR here.
There are a large number of indigenous breeds of livestock in the country, which need to be identified in all regions, he said, adding that this will help make the farm sector prosperous.
Lauding the ICAR for working in this direction, the minister said, “such a task is not an easy one and cannot be accomplished without the cooperation of state universities, Animal Husbandry Departments, NGOs, etc.” The ICAR has initiated documentation of all animal genetic resources of the country in a mission mode in collaboration with all these agencies, he added.
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 Thursday, breed registration certificates of 28 newly registered breeds were distributed. These include 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, the government has started notifying all registered breeds in the Gazette from the year 2019, according to an official statement.
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