Chandigarh, June 7 - Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal directed the officers to proactively prepare 'Kisan Mitra Yojana' as early as possible to ensure that the farmers are able to get the benefits of the welfare initiatives taken for those with a landholding of two acres or less. In addition, the Chief Minister has also directed them to speedily work on the Pashudhan Credit Card Scheme which is on the lines of the Kisan Credit Card in order to make Haryana a leading state in per capita production of milk in the country.
The Chief Minister gave the instructions while presiding over the review meeting of Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department here late yesterday evening. Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Mr. J.P. Dalal, former chairman of Livestock Development Board and MLA Mr. Sombir Sangwan were also present.
While presenting the schemes, Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Mr. Raja Sekhar Vundru apprised that the FMD + HS combined vaccine programme which was started under the Livestock Development Programme, initiated by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, to free the cow and buffalo from foot and mouth disease has been successful and as a result no cases of this disease has been reported for the past one year. The Central Government has announced it as a pilot project under its National Livestock Health & Disease Control Programme. Haryana will get an additional grant of Rs 15 crore for this programme.
Director General Dr. O.P. Chikkara informed that there are about 36 lakh productive cattle in the state and the productivity of milk per capita is 1,087 grams. He said that Haryana ranks first in milk production in the country after Punjab. He said that under the Pashudhan Credit Card Scheme, the cattle rearers will be given loan assistance upto a maximum of Rs 3 lakh for the livestock. He said that this assistance will be given for buffalo, cow, sheep, goat, pig, chicken and broiler etc.
The Chief Minister said that every animal should be tagged, whether it is from a Gaushala or of an individual. The Chief Minister was apprised that the work on the website for providing tagging information online has almost been completed. Similarly, apart from Gaushalas, separate Nandishalas are also being constructed. For this, the model of Nandishals built at a low-cost in Banawali and Matana villages of Fatehabad district will be adopted. He said that about Rs 15 lakh are spent on the construction of a Nandisala and this work is being done through the Haryana Livestock Development Board.
The Chief Minister informed that there are about 16 lakh families in the state who have productive cattle. Every animal is being tagged. About four and a half lakh animals have been kept in the state's gaushalas, of which 3 lakh 68 thousand have been tagged. Around 8,400 animals have been sent to various Gaushalas during COVID-19.
The Chief Minister said that we will have to formulate schemes to increase the income of small farmers from animal husbandry and other agri related sectors. He said that geographically Haryana is the most suitable place to meet the daily needs of about 5 crore population in and around Delhi, such as fruits, flowers, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat etc. and the farmers of Haryana should capture this market and move forward in this direction. With this, the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's vision of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022 will be fulfilled.