Agartala, April 16: Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha on Wednesday proposed projects worth Rs 969 crore for making the state self-reliant in milk, egg, fish, and meat production.
Dr. Saha said this while attending a virtual meeting of the High-Level Task Force on attaining self-sufficiency in milk, egg, meat, and fish production involving Chief Ministers of North Eastern States, in the presence of Union Minister of DoNER Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Dr. Saha stated that milk, eggs, meat, and fish provide crucial proteins, vitamins, and minerals essential for the healthy growth and development of the population in Tripura.
He said that in the dairy sector, the production of milk in Tripura for 2023-24 was 2.47 lakh metric tonnes, while the demand was 2.82 lakh metric tonnes, reflecting a gap of 0.35 lakh metric tonnes.
“To achieve self-sufficiency in milk production, Tripura has adopted Artificial Insemination (AI), both with conventional and sex-sorted semen. Sex-sorted semen refers to a technique used in AI where sperm cells are separated to increase the likelihood of producing female offspring (female-to-male ratio will be 90:10). In the last 3 years, Tripura has conducted 2.6 lakh doses of AI using SSS, producing nearly 50,000 female calves. Additionally, high-yielding cross-breed heifers have been distributed, nutritive calf growth meal has been supplied to farmers, and milk cooperatives under the Gomati Milk Union have been strengthened,” he said.
Dr. Saha has demanded the establishment of 8 dairy farms in each district with a capacity of 200 cows each, at a cost of Rs 80 crore, and a project worth Rs 7 crore for strengthening the Gomati Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd with the help of NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) by setting up bulk milk cooling stations/milk chilling vans at each subdivision, along with a large-scale heifer introduction program with the help of NDDB.
Talking about the egg sector, Dr. Saha said that the per capita availability of eggs in Tripura is 87 eggs per person per year, the highest among North Eastern states, which average 25 eggs per person per year.
“This has been achieved by the Mukhya Mantri Prani Sampad Bikas Yojana by distributing around 3 lakh chicks per year over the last 2 years,” said Dr. Saha.
To boost this further, Dr. Saha has proposed a project of Rs 15 crore for providing mini hatcheries to farmers/SHG groups/producer groups in each Gram Panchayat and Village Council, and another project of Rs 6 crore for automation and improvement of the existing six poultry/duckery government farms.
On the meat sector, Dr. Saha has proposed a project of Rs 17 crore for the establishment of one meat production, processing, and packaging centre in Tripura. Since feed availability is a major limiting factor in Northeast India, an automated feed mixing plant for livestock, poultry, and fishery can be set up in Tripura at a project cost of Rs 30 crore.
He also proposed the setting up of a state-of-the-art disease diagnostic laboratory in Tripura.
“As Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh, chances of trans-boundary disease outbreaks are very high, even though regular vaccination is carried out with sero-surveillance and sample screening. Considering its proximity to Bangladesh and related susceptibility to diseases, a state-of-the-art disease diagnostic laboratory can be set up for the Northeast in Tripura,” he said.
To boost fish production in the state, Dr. Saha said that the North Eastern Council can facilitate funding for the following projects over the next 5 years to attain self-sufficiency.
“A project for creation and fish culture in 1000 ha new water bodies for Rs. 124.00 Crore, project for reclamation of 5000 ha water bodies and fish culture in the same for Rs. 425.00 Crore, for adoption of integrated fish farming in 5000 ha existing water bodies for Rs. 130.00 Crore, a project for adoption of composite fish farming in 3000 ha existing water bodies for Rs. 120.00 Crores, establishment 1 Brood Bank in Tripura for Rs 5.00 Cr for genetic improvement of stock and establishment of wholesale and retail fish seed markets with modern facilities for which Rs. 10.00 Cr is needed”, he added.
