Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 28, 2003
The ministry has approved a three-year
programme to improve the productivity of cows and buffaloes in Uttar Pradesh
through genetics. An amount four times the entire spending for this purpose
over the Previous two decades has been sanctioned.
India has a fifth of the world's
bovines and is the biggest producer of milk, with UP the first in India.
However, productivity is low. The world average is more than two tonnes
of milk in each lactation cycle of an animal; India's average is less than
a tonne, which is why a ten-year national project in this regard was launched
in the year 2000. The UP grant is a component of this; 16 other states
are to be covered, too.
Union agriculture minister Ajit
Singh handed the first installment of Rs 10.6 crore, a fifth of the three-year
sanctioned amount for UP, to the state government at a ceremony on Monday.
The aim is to either use artificial
insemination (AI) or high-quality bulls on all breedable cattle in the
state, the service being provided at all farms.