NAGPUR, Nov 16: The need to pay more attention to livestock development in the country to remove the imbalance in rural economy was stressed during the two-day national seminar on `Advances in health and production of sheep and goat', jointly organised by the Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola and Vasantrao Naik Krishi Pratishthan, Pusad recently.Prominent speakers including Dr M L Madan, deputy director general, animal sciences, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), who inaugurated the seminar and Dr Bhalchandra Chopane, vice-chancellor of the Nagpur University, the chief guest at the valedictory function, highlighted the need for according due importance to livestock production and development.Speaking at the concluding function, Dr Chopane said that in order to boost the country's agricultural development, crop production was given a major thrust, while animal component of the rural economy largely remained neglected. To nullify the imbalance thus created, it is essential thatlivestock production, a major sub-occupation of the rural people is given due importance, he said.He urged veterinarians to divert their efforts and resources for providing the much-needed medical care for livestock in rural areas.Dr G M Bharad, Vice-Chancellor, PDKV, who presided over the function said that a lot of work is being carried out in the field of livestock production, but its documentation is lacking. He also stressed the need for integration of technocrats, social scientists and entrepreneurs in the field.The recommendations of the seminar were read out by Dr S D Harne, Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Science. The main recommendations include setting up of a National Goat Development Board, selective breeding of Deccani sheep for improving mutton and wool production, effective meat production of heavy breeds with 20 per cent conversion efficiency and so on.A total of 40 scientific papers were read out during the seminar. A paper entitled `In vitro maturation, fertilisation and embryodevelopment of goat oocytes', presented jointly by Dr C S Peshwe and S M Totey, was awarded the gold medal for best paper by the chief guest. The second medal was given to a paper on `Chromosome analysis of Indian domestic sheep using high resolution GTG-Banding technique', presented by Dr V D Umrikar, N Natarajan, V Thiarajan , S G Narayankhedkar and A R Krishnan.Earlier, in his address Dr Madan said the rearing process of sheep and goats in rural India is in an underdeveloped stage. It is therefore imperative to educate the goat farmers in adoption of scientific managerial and health cover practices.He also said that during the five year plans, emphasis was given on production of foodgrains, but the time has now come to pay attention to livestock development. This, he said is important as it is the only industry which can generate large-scale rural employment and involvement of rural women.
