Livestock

Decentralized Livestock Primary health care systems:

One of the key issue in the livestock production system is animal health care. 90% of mortality is primarily due to avoidable diseases. But given the scale of the work and foraging practices, many times it is difficult for the vaccinator to reach the villages at right time. This is especially true in case of small ruminants and poultry. In order to strengthen the healthcare services of animals, following actions are being taken up under SPPIF:-

Develop a pool of community vaccinators to increase vaccination at the village level.
Targeting vaccination of small ruminants and poultry birds.
Paid primary healthcare services streamlined in the project GPs.
Agronomic innovations: LESA, SRI, NPM Polycropping and others locally adaptable
Establishing refrigeration services for storing vaccines at cluster.
Castration of bulls for better draft power utilisation.
Identification of elite bulls and females for selective breeding.
Setting up community based healthcare systems through rearer field schools.

Goatery

Small ruminants are source of economic livelihood for tribal farmers. Each household typically has 3-4 goats in the tribal areas. Key challenges of the goats is mortality and stunted growth due to poor nutrition in the early childhood. Poor shelter also aggravates the healthcare issues of goats. Hence under SPPIF, following actions are proposed for realising the potential of goatery :-

Promotion of decentralised healthcare through community vaccination.
Support the elevated shelter construction
Improving the fodder availability in the foraging routes
Supplementary nutrition for goat kids through locally available crops.
Linkages to markets and adoption of proper weighing methods

Breed Registration of Indigenous livestock

Genetic erosion is a problem of national and international concern, and a number of animal breeds are at risk of extinction. The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources provides the first global overview of the diversity, status and trends of animal genetic resources, and capacity to manage these resources at national, regional and global levels.

National Plan of Action for Management of Animal Genetic Resources, which also emphasis on characterization of animal genetic resources encompasses all activities associated with generating information on their identification, qualitative and quantitative description, geographic and demographic distribution of populations, native habitats and production systems etc should be taken up.

Tribal communities have also developed and maintained different native livestock. There is a need to characterize, document and register these animal breeds. In addition, there is also need to document cultural linkages between animals and the communities. Hence under SPPIF, animal breed characterization is being carried out. As of Malkangiri Goat registration application has been submitted. More livestock characterization is proposed to be taken up.