Conservation and promotion of Manipuri pony a top priority: Chaoba

Imphal, April 26, 2018 (DIPR):  The Directorate of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, Government of Manipur has taken up an important project to conserve and promote Manipuri Pony, a threatened breed of the State. The State Government has allocated Rs. 2 crore for setting up a Pony Sanctuary at Heingang to conserve and rehabilitate the ponies that are roaming around, creating nuisance to the public. As the fund allocated will be insufficient, the Department is pursuing to get a loan of Rs. 6 crore from NABARD under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to provide a permanent place for the ponies. Talking to media persons at the press conference organized by DIPR at its office complex at Moirangkhom as part of the series of Press Conferences held to highlight the development activities of the various department of the Government of Manipur, Dr. H. Chaoba Singh, Director, Veterinary & Animal Husbandry stated that the Department has taken up various activities for economic alleviation of the farmers through rearing of animals.

He said that the Department has taken up a scheme of adopting Milch Mura Buffaloes under North Eastern Council (NEC) amounting to about Rs. 5.7 crore. The scheme covers 5 (five) districts in and around Loktak Lake, namely Thoubal, Imphal West, Bisbnupur, Senapati and Churachandpur. Under this scheme, 5 months pregnant Mura Buffaloes which can give 10 litres of milk will be distributed to 400 beneficiaries. Among the 400 beneficiaries, 150 beneficiaries are from Thoubal, 30 from Imphal West District, 25 from Senapati, 53 from Churachandpur and 257 from Bishnupur. For the year 2017-18, Milch Mura Buffaloes are distributed to 150 beneficiaries with the 1^st Instalment. For the year 2018-19, e-Tendering process is underway to distribute the buffaloes to 150 beneficiaries with the 2^nd Instalment.

The Department has also taken up the scheme of Backyard Poultry Farming in 4 (four) Zilla Parishads. The beneficiaries are selected by the respective Panchayats numbering to 125 each from the 4 Zilla Parishads. The beneficiaries get 40 chicks to start the poultry farm from the Department. To monitor the beneficiaries, the Department has taken up the Livestock Census and Integrated Sample Survey.

Under the National Livestock Mission, Centre Government has allocated Rs. 1.84 crore. For the year 2017-18, 3(three) piggery Farms places has been set up i.e., Torbung Piggery Farm, Tarungpokpi Piggery Farm and Hiyanglam Piggery Farm. For the Hiyanglam Piggery Farm, the department is trying to procure the necessary infrastructure. Piglets are distributed to the beneficiaries at subsidized rate. The Government faced some loss but the loss of the Department is gain for the farmers and so given at subsidized rate.

Talking about safeguarding the health of the animals, Dr. Ng Ibotombi Singh, Joint Director (Administration) stated that the educated unemployed youths are progressing in animal husbandry sector. For them, the department has been providing residential training on the scientific technical knowledge of animal husbandry. For the current year also, the Department will be conducting the training soon. As there are many people in the farming sector, the Department has taken up the programme of prior vaccination to ward off various diseases of the animal resources. Vaccination for Foot and Mouth disease, Black Quarter (BQ) and Haemorrhagic Septisemia (HS) are taken up. Foot and Mouth disease has been a big cause of economic loss to the Country and to eradicate the disease by 2025 from the Country, the Central Government has taken up a programme known as the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme. The programme has reached the State in the last part of the year 2017-18, and so the Department has taken up the programme of vaccination in the initial stage. He also said that the department has taken up strategy to vaccinate the animals and after vaccination random blood samples are taken from the vaccinated animals to know the effectiveness of the vaccination programme. If the vaccination is found ineffective, the team rendering the service of vaccination are liable for prosecution.

Immediate precautionary steps are taken up according to the disease forecasting of the livestocks that can occur in a month or the subsiding month made by the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research Centre, Bengaluru. For this a mobile app has also been circulated by the Department. There is a drastic decrease of Foot and Mouth Disease from previous years because of continuous free Vaccination Camp conducted by the Department. So far, the state has faced only 1 out-break in the year 2017-18 and there is no such outbreak in the continuing year which were prevalent in earlier days. The Department needs support from the farmers for timely intervention and take the benefit of the various programme to curb such outbreak, he added.

The Department has a small budget and it hinders the proper functioning but with the fundings from various schemes of the Centre Government, the Department has been able to provide benefits to the farmers stated Dr.Ch. Nandakishore Singh, Joint Director (Planning & Budget Section). He said that piggery farming has been given top priority under the National livestock Mission as the North Eastern State has potential for pig rearing. As for Manipur, foreign breed will be procured and with artificial insemination improved breeds of piglets will be distributed to the beneficiaries at a subsidized rate. For development of poultry and diary farming and to enhance the skills of the farmer, funds from Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna Scheme has also been applied to supplement the fund shortage of the department. For Livestock Health and Disease Control, the department is trying to take funds from the Central Government. Under the Livestock Health and Disease Control Scheme, under the Establishment of Veterinary Hospital and Dispensary Scheme, 60 Veterinary Hospitals and Dispensaries are set up with the 3 Instalments, 26 are under construction for the year 2017-18, and for the current financial year Veterinary Hospitals and dispensaries will be constructed in the hill districts and newly formed Districts. To improve the milk production, fundings are procured from DoNER Ministry under the project ‘Adoption of Milch Mura Buffalo’ and trying to implement the 2^nd Instalment of Rs. 186 lakhs for the year 2017-18. To improve the social status and livelihood of the Scheduled Caste population of Sekmai, Andro, Leimaram and Thanga, in a trial basis, a project has been submitted to North Eastern Council to procure fund to provide benefit to them by rearing milk producing cows and the Department is trying to implement the programme as soon as the fund is released, he added.

W. Phajatombi Devi, Joint Director, Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Manipur, was the moderator of the media interaction.