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

Context

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

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.

The National Livestock Mission (NLM) programme of the Government of India promotes small ruminant development initiatives by using the platforms of women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) and also other cooperative structures.

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