Sheep farm located in Poilwa under Peren district, Nagaland. (Photo Courtesy: kima_walling shared on Twitter by India Trail@theindiatrail)
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Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 11
While there are increasing demands for meat, fish and dairy products, Nagaland is deficient in producing all these food items. The ‘State Focus Paper (SFP) 2022-2023 for Nagaland’ released recently by the NABARD foresaw huge potential in animal husbandry sector.
The development of livestock sector is inclusive and can result in a sustainable agriculture system in the State, stated the SFP which is prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Nagaland Regional Office, Dimapur.
Citing a sample survey report carried out by the State’s Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services (AH&VS) in 2018-19, the paper further noted that Nagaland produced just 43.35% of the total requirement of meat, milk and eggs worth Rs 1219.70 crore, leaving a shortfall of 56.65%.
The shortfall in monetary terms works out to Rs 1986.87 crore, out of which the State imported animal husbandry products worth Rs 212.03 crore.
Accordingly, the SFP stated that achieving self-sufficiency in meat and value addition of milk have been identified as the thrust areas for development of the animal husbandry sector.
The SFP thus advocated for development of piggery, poultry and Mithun for meat production and infusion of superior germplasm of dairy cattle for milk production to narrow down the gap between demand and supply of Animal Husbandry products.
In the absence of any organised industry in the State, and considering its huge potential, the Animal Husbandry sector alone can absorb a large fraction of the vast number of unemployed, it added, while listing out various opportunities in the sectors.
Dairy farming
As an important animal husbandry activity in the State, dairy farming could serve as a powerful tool for the reduction of poverty in rural areas, which the SFP highlighted, has potential to create numerous employment opportunities besides improving the food security of milk producing households.
The State produced just 74 thousand tonnes of milk, leaving a shortfall of 43.67 thousand tonnes as per the 2018-19 survey. This presents significant opportunities for small holder producers engaged in dairy farming, it said.
The survey also informed that the per capita availability of milk was 97.99 grams/head/day against a standard recommendation of 150 grams/head/day, it added.
The SFP thus stated that devising a viable dairy development strategy for smallholders is imperative to increase the milk yield, generate more employment opportunities in the dairy value chain and enhance labour productivity.
Considering the infrastructure available and likely to be made available and based on the discussion with the line departments, etc., the credit potentials for the year 2022-23 is assessed at Rs 37.23 crore, the SFP stated.
Poultry rearing
The SFP observed that among the various poultry rearing systems, backyard rearing was the most popular in Nagaland, constituting 21.26 lakh poultry birds as per 19th Livestock Census.
On the other hand, the total number of commercial poultry birds in the State is negligible—16,302 layer birds and 33,533 broiler birds as per the Livestock Census, it said.
The SFP further noted that as the majority of people of the State’s populace are predominantly non-vegetarian and prefer both egg and meat and there is a vast gap between demand and local production.
This sector has immense potential to provide stable income to farmers and given the demand for poultry meat, the State Government should focus on improving the poultry infrastructure in the state, it added. It further assessed the credit projections for 2022-23 for poultry sector at Rs 33.65 crore.
Sheep, goat and piggery development
Despite vast opportunity and interest as the most important activity in the State as well as Nagaland having the 8th highest number of pigs in the country at 0.40 million as per the 20th Livestock Census, pig farming has not flourished as an enterprise in the due to several constraints, the SFP pointed out.
The constraints included shortage of quality piglets and non availability of upgraded breeding boar, inbreeding due to repeated use of same boar for prolonged period, higher cost of natural breeding, among others.
Citing AH&VS records, it highlighted that the State produced 32.04 tonnes of meat, with Dimapur district contributing the highest share at 28% (9.02 thousand tonnes) of the total production.
The combined population of sheep and goat (31, 963) is less than one tenth of the population of pig in the state.
Accordingly, estimating credit potential for sector at Rs 63.95 crore, the SFP called for systematic development of the sector.
Fishery development
Meanwhile, the SFP designated fish farming as one of the promising enterprises that could generate substantial income for farmers and become a major contributor towards the state’s economy.
The state is endowed with approximately 1,16,500 ha of fresh water resources consisting of pond/tanks, lakes/reservoir and weirs/swamps while there is 1,600 km stretch of various rivers/streams system for undertaking inland capture fisheries, it informed.
However, only 9,326 hectare of water resources have been developed for fish culture, it added, referring to the Annual Administrative Report 2019-20 of the Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources.
Consequently, during 2020-21, out of a production of 9,049 MT of fish anticipated, 2,800 MT of fish requirement was met through imports, it said.
In this connection, the SFP highlighted that fish farming or pisciculture could be an important socio-economic activity that can be undertaken by rural households as the people are traditionally engaged in rearing small livestock.
Systematic utilisation of these natural resources can help augment the fish production, it said.
The farmers can be motivated to develop low-cost farming systems through integration of fish farming with crops and livestock and this could become an effective alternative for increasing fish production, it added. The credit potential projected under fisheries sector for the year 2022-23 was assessed at Rs 12.32 crore.
