The Animal Husbandry, Fisheries & Dairy Development Minister, Punjab, Balbir Singh Sidhu today met the Consulate General of Canada Ms. Mia Yen and Trade Commissioner, Government of Canada, Mr. Gurbans Sobti to seek cooperation in several areas of Animal Husbandry including exchange of high breeds of animals such as cattle, pig and goat, Skill Development Education and technology of waste management to boost the production of bio gas in winter season.Talking to the representatives from Canada, the Animal Husbandry Minister said that Punjab Government has taken several initiatives to place the Animal Husbandry sector on firm footing. He said that besides exchange of high breeds of animals, the state government is keen to adopt the state of the art technologies connected with the Animal Husbandry sector besides giving high priority to enlist assistance from the cattle farming sphere of Canada. He further said that the state government is also keen to collaborate with Canada to get technical know-how of waste management sector to boost the production of bio-gas in winter season as well as to setting up meat processing units in the State of Punjab.
Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu also said that the Punjab government had also exchanged of livestock with Canada for about 20 years ago which yielded positive results. He said that it is the need of the hour that we adopt developed countries' technology in respect of dairy farming and animal husbandry. He also rooted for permanent mechanism to be put in place to ensure that the youth especially the students of Punjab receive skill development education in this vital sector. He also expressed hope that the Consulate General of Canada Ms. Mia Yen would provide opportunity to students hailing from Punjab for getting advanced education concerning Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development in the renowned universities of Canada.
In response to the proposal regarding export of fishes from Canada put forward by the Consulate General Ms. Mia Yen, the Animal Husbandry Minister said that Punjab can import the fish according to the state's environment as there is mostly summer weather in Punjab and keep their fish in the Nangal dam on trial basis. He further said that to ensure the production of disease-less high breed animals, we would have to share the modernised techniques to produce international level vaccination in the state’s institutes. Canada's Consulate General Ms. Mia Yen said that they expect a golden future in the field related to Animal Husbandry in Punjab and all the issues shared by the Animal Husbandry Minister would be placed before the high command and every possible effort would be made to provide modern technology to Punjab. On this occasion, Trade Commissioner Gurbans Sobti, Director Animal Husbandry Inderjit Singh and Director Dairy Development Inderjit Singh were also present.