Livestock farming for livelihood security of tribals

KOLKATA: Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) organized a workshop on “Livelihood Security through Livestock-based Farming System for Tribal and NEH Region” at Eastern Regional Station, Kolkata on Tuesday for implementing Tribal Sub-plan (TSP) and North  Eastern Hill (NEH) Region  Programme.

Prof. B. B. Mallick, Founder Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Animal   and Fishery Science (WBUAFS), Kolkata  had chaired the session while  Dr R. K. Singh, Director-cum-Vice Chancellor, ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar had presided over.

Prof. Mallick highlighted the importance of livelihood security for the tribals as most of them can’t practice agriculture due to lack of land but they rear livestock and birds as part of their tradition and culture. He emphasized to strengthen the livelihood security progamme for the poorest of the poor in the form of national movement.

Dr Singh during his deliberation elaborated the objective of the workshop and suggested to work in a focused way and develop one model village so that awareness can be spread in other villages. Further, he stressed on the sustainability of the programme so that the socio-economic strata of the resource poor farmers can be improved.

Dr Subhasish Bandyopadhyay, Station In-charge, ICAR-IVRI, Kolkata Centre welcomed the dignitaries and thanked Director ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar for taking initiatives to bring all Animal Sciences Institutes of Eastern and North-Eastern Region under one umbrella at ERS, ICARIVRI, Kolkata for implementing TSP and NEH Region Programme.

Prof Purnendu Biswas, Vice-Chancellor, WBUAFS, Kolkata and Guest of Honour of the programme narrated livestock as one of the most important tools for improvement of livelihood security of tribal farmers. He suggested that due importance should be given in imparting training of tribal farmers as well as marketing of products for implementation of the programme successfully.

Dr (Capt.) A. G. Bandyopadhyay, Director, Animal Resources Development Department, Government of West Bengal and Special Guest of the programme stressed on genetic improvement of local breeds along with feeding and health care practices suitable for tribals for improvement of their socio-economic strata.

Dr A. K. Garg, Joint Director (Extension Education), ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar (U.P.) stated that IVRI is going to implement TSP and NEH programme through its three campuses and three regional stations following the TSP guidelines.

Dr K. N. Bhilegaonkar, Station In-charge, TEC-Pune; Dr U. K. Bandyopadhyay, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IVRI, ERS- Kolkata and Dr A. Sanyal, Joint Director, IVRI, Bengaluru gave a presentation on TSP. This was followed by presentation by Dr S. M. Deb, Director, ICARNRC on Yak and Dr Subhasish Bandyopadhyay, Station In-charge, ICAR-IVRI, Kolkata Centre about activities in NEH Region.

Subsequently, panel discussion on TSP and activities in NEH Region was held under the Chairmanship of Prof. B. B. Mallick, who suggested that all institutes need to work cohesively for benefit of the resource-poor farmers. Dr R. K. Singh emphasized that the TSP and NEH Region programmes should have visible impact on upliftment of socio-economic condition of resource-poor farmers.

In the panel discussion, dignitaries from various ICAR institutes viz. Dr D. K Sarma, Director, ICAR-NRC on Pig; Dr S. M. Deb, Director, ICARNRC on Yak; Dr A. Mitra, ICARNRC on Mithun; Dr T. K. Dutt, Head, ERS, ICAR-NDRI, Kalyani; Dr Arnab Sen, Head, Division of Animal Sciences, ICAR-NEH Region, Barapani and Dr B. K. Mahapatra, ICAR-CIFE, 4 Kolkata Centre actively participated in the programme and suggested various measures to overcome the constraints to implement the programme successfully.