The scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research–National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR–NDRI), Karnal, have successfully implemented a breed improvement model under the National Gokul Mission of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, of the Union Government.
As per the scientists, they adopted 100 villages of Muzaffarnagar district of UP and with the help of artificial insemination (AI) technology and the use of high-quality bull semen of the ICAR-NDRI, they achieved good results in production of quality progeny. They expect that with this technology, the livestock farmers will get good results and they anticipate higher production from these animals.
Besides, they also achieved results in getting improved animals with better growth and attained maturity earlier compared to existing one. Farmers get better-quality animals at lower costs, and increased productivity makes dairy farming more profitable, they claimed.
Scientists say this initiative is expected to enhance the income of livestock farmers. They claimed that this model could prove to be a milestone in increasing the income of livestock farmers across the country. Under a special project carried out in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, AI was performed on 39,803 cows and buffaloes. Out of these, 16,200 cows and buffaloes became pregnant, and most of them already calved.
“Since livestock farmers of this area did not have good quality germplasm and their livestocks’ production potential were average, this project was started in 2022 with funds received under Rashtriya Gokul Mission and it was successfully completed recently. This was operated through NDRI’s Farmer Service Center in Lalukheri village of Muzaffarnagar district. From there, 25 trained AI workers covered dairy animals in 100 villages, and a sum of Rs 3.75 crore was spent on this project," said Dr Dheer Singh, Director, ICAR-NDRI.
“This model can serve as an example of other states. State governments can adopt this model to promote breed improvement programmes at their level. This will boost milk production, strengthen the dairy sector and give new direction to the rural economy,” he added.
Experts believe that if implemented on a large scale, this model can not only help double farmers’ income, but also make India even stronger in the field of dairy production.
Dr Singh said that under this project, awareness about artificial insemination was created by reaching out directly to farmers at their homes. Farmers also cooperated with the institute’s team. As a result of these efforts, better offspring are now being born in the region, and animals produced through earlier breed improvement programmes are giving good results.
