NABARD - Soil Report 2015 - page 102

Dairy-based Livelihoods
77
of animal owners. All these were backed
by the research support of a team of spe-
cialists. Based on the success of BAIF in
breed improvement, a number of farmers’
cooperatives invited it to take up dairy cattle
development in their area of operation,
thus expanding the programme in several
states. In the 1980s, cattle cross-breeding
programme by BAIF was recognised as a
part of IRDP and invitation from several
states helped in establishing cattle-breeding
centres. Technical soundness of the pro-
gramme, use of state-of-the-art technology
for producing frozen semen, effective and
efficient doorstep delivery services, follow-
up of inseminated cows for pregnancy and
calving, rapport of the teamwith the famers
and production performance of cross-breds
contributed to such recognition. BAIF
also developed breeding services for buf-
faloes and indigenous breeds of cattle. This
initiative enabled the BAIF to contribute
towards conservation and development
of indigenous breeds of livestock, thereby
maintaining biodiversity.
Transition to integrated cattle
development programme
BAIF, over a period of time, transitioned the
cattle breeding programme to cattle devel-
opment programme since the resource poor
could not fully benefit from single interven-
tion. Thus, production support activities
included fodder development, supply of
subsidised calf feed and farmers’ training
to ensure suitable growth and management
of heifers till they attained maturity which
takes around two to three years.
Animal health support activities such as
diagnostics, vaccination, deworming, first
aid etc., were also developed. BAIF also
commenced integrating livestock develop-
ment into its natural resource management
programmes since in rain-fed-semi-arid
areas, improvement of livestock cannot be
sustained unless it is supported by natural
resource management such as watershed
and silvopasture development projects to
ensure availability of water, feed and fodder.
Milk-marketing initiatives have largely
not been taken up by the BAIF and cattle
owners are linked to dairy cooperatives for
milk marketing.
The central research station at Uruli
Kanchan plays a key role in the success of the
livestock development programme by pro-
viding critical technical inputs throughout
the country. Multi-disciplinary expert teams
plan crucial aspects of the programme like
breeding, reproduction, nutrition, health,
fodder production etc. Technologies were
either generated or tested and suitably
modified for these crucial aspects of the
programme. Suitable recommendations for
field staff and farmers were also provided
based on these.
Some key numbers as on 31 March 2015
were:
No. of centres:
3,749 in12 states, cov-
ering 5.26 million families in 88,272
villages cumulatively.
No. of AI carried out:
2.5 million/year.
Cows/Buffaloes in production:
1.0
million.
Value of milk produced:
`
4000 crores/
year.
Coverage of a centre
The cattle breeding centre typically carries
out the following
:
Coverage of 12–15 villages; 1,000–1,500
families
Coverage of 1,500–2,000 breedable cattle
and buffaloes
AI at doorsteps
Conservation of native breeds
Close follow up and monitoring
Support services: vaccination, health
care etc.
Adviceonnutritionand forageproduction
Focus on poor beneficiaries
Development of local organisations
Community paravets to be well-trained
and supervised to carry out the activities.
The Programme is self-sustainable after
initial support for about 5–7 years.
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