The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Moves to set up veterinary science varsity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Moves to set up veterinary science varsity

By Our Special Correspondent

The Director of Animal Husbandry, R. Mohana Rao, having a word with the Visakha Dairy chairman, A. Tulasi, at a meeting to celebrate the World Veterinarians Day in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

VISAKHAPATNAM, APRIL 28. Plans are afoot to set up a separate university for veterinary science in the State to upgrade the skills of veterinarians on a continuous basis and improve extension work in a bid to achieve targeted growth in milk, meat and egg production, the Director of Animal Husbandry, R. Mohana Rao, said here on Wednesday.

He was addressing a meeting got up to celebrate the World Veterinarians Day. Though Andhra Pradesh achieved considerable progress in milk and egg production, the productivity and per capita consumption remained very low as compared to other Asian countries, he said.

Admitting that the veterinary services were poor in the State as compared to other Southern States, he noted that veterinary hospitals were being run in dilapidated buildings with little or no equipment to meet the needs of the farmers.

Mr. Mohana Rao felt the need to impose a one paise cess on every litre of milk to provide basic facilities in veterinary hospitals. Also veterinarians should be trained on a continuous basis to help the farmers to reap the benefits of research.

He revealed the department's plans to introduce 28 mobile veterinary clinics. They would be sanctioned for Paderu and Chintapalli in Visakhapatnam district. If proved beneficial, more such clinics would be started.

Saying that it took nearly 40 years for India to eradicate rinderpest through vaccination, he called for sustained efforts to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease which hindered exports. The department had taken up mass vaccination in five districts to make cattle disease-free. The programme could be extended to Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts and wanted Visakha Dairy to meet 25 per cent of the vaccination cost. "If the region is declared disease-free, exports would receive a boost and the farmers would get double the price for their produce.''

Mr. Mohana Rao pointed out that the Chittoor district cooperative dairy, which was acclaimed as the best in the country a few decades ago, had to be closed because it was saddled with unsold stocks of milk products worth Rs. 9 crores. It could not export the products for want of the `disease free' certificate and so sank under its own weight.

The Visakha Dairy chairman, Adari Tulasi Rao, stressed the need for breed improvement to increase milk yield and make dairying remunerative.

Though the farmers were given a higher price and better service, they remained unhappy because the yields were low. The per animal milk yield was only one to 1.5 litres in Andhra Pradesh against 4-5 litres in Maharashtra.

He said that Visakha Dairy would spend any amount on buildings and laboratories if they helped improve service to farmers. The dairy was procuring 3.2 lakh litres of milk per day beating other districts like Guntur. Mr. Tulasi Rao asked the veterinarians to draw up a plan for breed improvement and feed and fodder development and offered all assistance for its implementation.

The Veterinarians Welfare Association president, T. Raja Rao, chaired the function. Its founder-president, V. Peda Somulu, spoke.

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