ICAR-CIRG signs MoU to transform India’s goat value chain

Recently, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research — Central Institute for Research on Goats (ICAR-CIRG)has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Heifer India, a non-profit organization.

About the agreement:

• Objective: To enhance the lives of smallholder farmers and advance the goat farming sector in India and to forge a brighter future for all, transforming the goat value chain.
• The focus areas of the agreement include increasing goat productivity, providing advanced training in breeding and healthcare practices and fostering sustainability throughout the goat value chain.
• The organisations have agreed to work towards boosting productivity along with generating employment opportunities and combat poverty in India’s rural regions.
• Both organisations pledged to provide specialised training, unwavering support and essential resources to smallholder farmers and Community Agro-Veterinary Entrepreneurs (CAVEs).
• Significance:
  • India’s goat value chain and livelihoods of rural farmer communities is likely to see a boost.
  • Their focus areas include elevating goat productivity, imparting advanced training in breeding and healthcare practices, and fostering sustainability within the goat value chain.

India’s Goat value chain:

• India has 135 million goat population.
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) value of goat production is Rs. 386 billion.
• India being second largest goat meat producer has increased meat production from 0.47 to 0.596 million tons between 2002 and 2011 recording an annual growth rate of 2.4%.
• The goat production system in the country is categorized as;
  • Extensive Grazing (predominant in Odisha),
  • Tethering (Parts of Bihar and Eastern UP),
  • Semi-Intensive Production and
  • Intensive Production Systems.
• Women perform major activities in goat keeping while men play key role in marketing.
• Primary source of goat nutrition is through extensive grazing/browsing with zero to marginal supplements at homes.
• In addition, some of the challenges in goat feeding include shortage of crop residue with change in pulse cropping and stringent forest regulations.

Threats to Goat production and rearing:

• High mortality, especially of kids (up to 40%) due to diseases like Peste des Pettis Ruminants (PPR), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and poor management are major challenges in the goat sub-sector.
• Non-availability of quality breeding stock is another major challenge resulting in low productivity.