The Animal husbandry department has contributed immensely to improve the economy of the State in the year 2015.Disclosing this here today, Mr. Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister for Animal Husbandry said that there was a dire need of diversification in the agriculture sector and their department had given a solution to it by encouraging the farmers to opt for subsidiary occupations like Dairy Farming, Piggery, Poultry and Sheep rearing as the agriculture sector had already reached at a saturation point not only in the state but across the country.Expressing satisfaction over the efforts of the state government, he said that it was a matter of pride that the Punjab had achieved a target of producing 10351 thousand tons of milk annually. With only 2% of the livestock, the Punjab had managed to contribute 8% of the total milk production of the country, he added.
The Minister further said that Punjab had produced 10351 thousand tonnes milk that is three times more milk than the national average which further resulted its consumption to the tune of 993 gram per person per day in the state. Likewise state had produced total 4264 million eggs which was 2.5 fold more than that of national average, besides 236.87 thousand tonne meat was produced in the year 2015 by the state.The Minister Said that in order to boost up animal farming in the State, the Punjab Government has organised five day Progressive Punjab National Livestock Expo and Championship at Sri Muktsar Sahib from 8 to 12 January 2016 and efforts are being made to attract international tourists to this most colourful and vibrant show on the pattern of Pushkar Mela.
The Minister further said that the department had also done a commendable job to upgrade the various services at the all veterinary hospitals in the state. The state government had spent Rs. 20 crore for the renovation and repair works of 209 Veterinary Hospitals and 372 Dispensaries. A special project of Rs. 1729.50 crore had been approved under different Schemes of the Government of India, besides as many as 60 new Animal Dispensaries were built and 47 hospitals were repaired during 2015 under special programme. He further mentioned that under this scheme building of 25 new Veterinary Hospitals were being constructed and some were being equipped by latest gadgets.
He said that under National Diary Plan-1, Semen Bank Nabha was being strengthened at a cost of Rs. 1420.73 lakh which would help to enhance the semen production from 30 lakh to 60 lakh vaccines. For the preservation of Sahiwal breed of cows, the state government had also earmarked Rs. 30 crore special fund and sent to the central government for approval. He said that Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University was also contributing immensely in the field of research besides producing veterinary doctors of international calibre, Minister said.