17. Over many years studies have been undertaken in the cross- breeding of local types with the Merino sheep in Kashmir, Mysore and the Deccan, in the selective breeding of Bikaneri, Deccani and Bellary types and in the grading up of local inferior sheep with the Bikaneri. These have led to the adoption of a long-term approach which includes (a) selective breeding of indigenous breeds in the plains and where define breeds exist, (b) upgrading of nondescript breeds with Bikaneri, and (c) cross-breeding with foreign breeds in selected hilly areas. Cross-breeding with Merino sheep has given valuable results both in respect of the quantity and the quality of wool produced. Encouraging results have also been obtained from selective breeding and from grading up local inferior sheep. As against the average yield of the Kashmiri breed of 16 ozs. of fleece, the yield of the half-bred variety is about 37 ozs. and in certain cases as much as 56 ozs. There is thus considerable scope for improving the present yields of wool.
18. During the second five year plan it is proposed to establish three new sheep breeding farms. These will be in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat and Saurashtra. The farms are intended to produce rams of good quality, both for pure breeding and for crossbreeding. At each farm a fleece testing laboratory and a wool utilisation centre will be set up. It is also proposed to establish 396 sheep and wool extension centres in different regions. The plan provides Rs.1.5
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crores for sheep and wool development In many parts of the country, where scarcity conditions supervene from time to time, sheep farming is an industry which can do much to sustain the rural economy.
19. The goat is often described as the "poor man's cow", although only a fifth of the goat population of about 47 million is used for milk production. The average yield is extremely low, but selected breeds have an average of about 400 pounds milk per lactation of 150 days. The goat has been a major factor in causing erosion and if it is to have a significant part in the agricultural economy, goatbreeding should be carried on under arable conditions. Closer studies of the economics of meat production under stall-fed conditions and of the special diseases of the goat are also needed.
POULTRY 20. The value of poultry as a subsidiary industry has long been recognised, but poultry development has taken place at a relatively slow rate. The average indigenous hen produces about 50 eggs per year in this country, as against 120 in many other countries. A factor in poultry development is the loss which the poultry breeder frequently suffers from the out-breaks of diseases such as Ranikhet, Fowl-ox and Spirochaetosis. Predatory animals and birds also take a large toll of village poultry. A proportion of the eggs produced during the hot weather are lost on account of the lack of proper preservation including cold storage.
21. During the second five year plan it is proposed to set up four regional farms, each with 2000 laying hens for acclimatising exotic breeds and from which foundation stocks will be distributed to 300 extension centres. Each extension centre is to comprise a demonstration unit with a development block attached to it. It is proposed to provide training to private poultry breeders in modem methods of poultry rearing on each of these demonstration units. A defertilization unit is also to be attached to each extension centre for processing village eggs in order to prolong their keeping qualities, especially during the summer months. In national extension and community project areas vaccination of poultry against various diseases is already being undertaken on an increasing scale. Ex- periments have shown that White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds are the most useful breeds for crossing or upgrading the indigenous stock. It is considered that with the measures which are being planned it should be possible to increase the production of upgraded indigenous hens by about 50 percent There is considerable room for the development of poultry as a subsidiary industry in every village in the country, provided improved stocks are made available in adequate numbers, elementary guidance is freely extended and satisfactory marketing and other facilities are organised. By the end of the second plan the per capita availability of eggs per annum would be raised from four to twenty.
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 22. The contribution which livestock can make to public health and to the economy of the country can be greatly increased by improvements brought about through judicious breeding, proper feeding, adequate protection agaist losses from diseases and other causes and improvement in the general conditions of husbandry and management Programmes for development have to be based on extensive scientific research. During the first five year plan, apart from research schemes sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, veterinary research and animal husbandry in general did not receive sufficient attention. The second five year plan, however, provides for much larger programmes for the development of animal husbandry and the expansion of research facilities. Animal husbandry research has to be organised at three levels, namely, national, regional and State. At the national level Central institutes like the Indian Veterinary Research Institute and the National Dairy Research Institute will be mainly responsible for fundamental work on problems of all-India importance, development and standardisation of new techniques (including biological products), institution of specialised post- graduate courses, etc. Under the second five year plan these institutes will be strengthened and expanded. At the Indian Veterinary Research Institute the existing research divisions for animal genetics, poultry, animal nutrition, pathology, bacteriology, parasitology and biological products are being given larger staff and equipment and a biological products standardisation division is also being added for regulating and con trolling the quality and use of vaccines and sera prepared at different centres. The National Dairy Research Institute which has been established at Karnal and takes the place of the Indian Dairy Research Institute at Bangalore will have separate divisions for research in dairy husbandry, nutrition, chemistry, bacteriology, technology and machinery, besides a division for dairy extension work and a dairy science college. A regional station of the Institute is being maintained at Bangalore for the purpose of training students in junior courses in dairying and for research.
23. Animal husbandry conditions vary considerably in different parts of the country and there are many research problems which are of importance to particular regions and are best studied in regional institutions. The Government of India, therefore, propose to develop four research institutes, one in each of the four regions in which the country has been
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divided for animal husbandry research and development, namely, temperate (Himalayan), dry (northern), eastern and southern regions. A beginning in this direction was made in the first five year plan by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research which undertook to finance the establishment of four regional stations for research in animal nutrition problems. During the first plan special staff was also appointed for carrying out research in infertility in cattle and for training veterinary college students in animal gynaecology and obstetrics and the allied subjects of artificial insemination and physiology and pathology of reproduction. During the second plan further additions will be made to the staff.
24. In most States nucleus centres for veterinary research have already come into existence.-thanks to the work of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and State Governments have also provided in their plans for the further strengthening of their existing organisations. It is important that the results of research carried out at the Central and regional institutes should be applied and adapted to local conditions. Work at research stations in the States is likely, however, to come up against shortage of adequately trained and experienced personnel.
25. Programmes for key villages in national extension and other areas, rinderpest eradication and urban and rural milk supply schemes which have been drawn up for the second five year plan require altogether about 5000 veterinary graduates as against 750 likely to become available from existing institutions: The shortage of trained veterinary personnel was already anticipated two years ago and certain steps were taken. Double shifts were introduced in five veterinary colleges at Hissar, Hyderabad, Patna, Bombay and Bikaner and four new colleges were set up in Madhya Bharat, Orissa, Andhra and Travancore- Cochin. Existing veterinary colleges are also being assisted in increasing their admissions and improving their training facilities. A post-graduate veterinary college is being set up at lzatnagar at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute. Since the veterinary degree course extends over four years, to meet shortages in the intervening period an emergency course of two years' duration has been started at ten centres, each admitting about 100 students. Trainees from these centres will as an emergency measure supplement supply from veterinary colleges. State Governments are taking steps to meet the requirements of stockmen and other subordinate personnel like compounders and dressers. In a number of States special training courses in subjects such as artificial insemination, poultry husbandry and flaying and utilisation of carcasses have been instituted. The Government of India also propose to institute a course of training in the husbandry and diseases of pigs.
26. To provide about 1000 personnel for dairying it is proposed to set up a dairy science college at Karnal along with the National Dairy Research Institute. At present training facilities in dairy science do not go beyond the diploma level. A number of specialised short-term courses of training in different fields of dairying are also to be organised at Karnal and Bangalore, at the milk colonies of Aarey and Haringhatta and at the Agricultural Institute, Allahabad during the second five year plan. With a view to harnessing the resources of these institutions for the development of cattle wealth the Central Gosamvardhana Council has instituted a twelve month course for training goshala workers for appointment in the more important goshalas.
II
DEVELOPMENT OF FISHERIES 27. in recent years efforts have been made to increase the production both of fresh water fish and of sea fish. Progress in this field has received an impetus both from the initiative of the Central and State Governments and from the technical and other assistance received under the Indo-U.S. technical cooperation programme, the Indo-Norwegian Fisheries Community Development programme and from the Food and Agricultural Organisation. As against a provision of Rs. 5 crores in the first five year plan the second plan envisages a total outlay of about Rs. 12 crores-about Rs. 4 crores on the part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and about Rs. 8 crores in the plans of States.
28. Fishery statistics, which were in an unsatisfactory state at the beginning of the first five year plan, have improved, to some extent, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture propose to take steps to arrange for better statistical information regarding the produc- tion, supply and marketing of fish. While statistics of fish production are still far from adequate, it is estimated that at the beginning of the first five year plan the total production was about a million metric tons, of which about 20 per cent was accounted for by production for domestic use and the balance represented sea fish and the marketable surplus of inland fish. During the first plan, it is estimated that fish production has increased by about 10 per cent, the production in 1955-56 being about 1.1 million metric tons. During the second plan it is expected that fish production will rise by about 33 per cent i.e. to about 1.4 million metric tons. The present per capita consumption of fish is slightly less than 4 lbs. per annum. A 50 per cent increase in fish production over a period of about 10 years is a task within the bounds of practical accomplishment.
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INLAND FISHERIES 29. The development of inland fisheries was begun, on a small scale even before the first five year plan, but has since been intensified. In West Bengal, during the first five year plan, 2500 acres of semi-derelict tanks, 378 acres of under-developed beels and about 13,500 acres of smaller collections of water have been brought under fish culture. In Orissa, large swampy areas have been reclaimed and utilised for fish culture. Special emphasis has been placed on increasing the availability of fish seed. Nearly 2600 lakhs of spawn and fry were collected in 1954-55. It has also been possible to materially reduce the rate of mortality of fry and fingerlings in nursery and rearing ponds and during transport. Some States have undertaken legislation for bringing neglected waters under fish culture. Surveys of waters are also being undertaken, for instance, in 1954-55 about 25,000 acres of water area was surveyed in different States and an additional area of more than 9,000 acres was stocked. The development of fisheries in large reservoirs has also been taken in hand. The Mettur reservoir in Madras has been developed and can now produce about 5 tons of fish per day. Similar work has been initiated or is being planned for a number of other reservoirs. The plans of States provide about Rs. 5 crores for the further development of inland fisheries.
MARINE FISHERIES 30. While the development of inland fisheries is important, the greater part of the programme of fisheries development relates necessarily to marine fisheries. The problems of fishermen have to be understood and solved in the context of the environment in which they live. Technological developments and research have a vital contribution to make in this Field, but the central emphasis should be on the fishermen himself, the means at his disposal, the local community to which he belongs and the manner in which his work is to be further reorganised and developed. Community development among fishermen presents special problems of extension, organisation and technical development. It is from this aspect that the Indo-Norwegian fisheries project in Travancore-Cochin has a larger significance than the immediate tasks undertaken may suggest. Increasingly, the emphsis in the dvelopment of fisheries should be on a coordinated approach to the social and economic life of villages and groups of villages whose main source of livelihood is fishing.
31. These villages are engaged in producing fish for the market, so that their economy is largely bound up with arrangements for the collection, transport and marketing of fish. Here the central fact of the situation is that the vast majority of fishermen are dependent on middlemen for meeting their domestic needs and securing their production requisites. Frequently, they are in debt and have to pledge their catch in advance. This leads to low productivity and to hand-to-mouth existence for most fishermen, besides exposing them to constant exploitation. Difficult as it may be, in the main, it is along cooperative lines that the production of sea fish and the reorganisation needed among fishing communities has to be undertaken. During the first five year plan useful beginnings have been made. About 800 fishermen's co-operative societies have been organised. Most of them are concerned with credit, but a number also provide facilities for purchase of requisites and some undertake cooperative production and marketing. In Bombay co-operative societies of fishermen have made encouraging progress. These societies are sup- ported by a central co-operative organisation which markets, on an average, fish to the value of about Rs. 8 laths per annum and, with assistance from the Government, have taken steps to provide boats, engines and ice and cold storage plants. Madras has 236 societies and, while most of them provide credit, some have also organised supplies of foodgrains, yarn, sail cloth, fishing hooks, etc. In Orissa fishermen's cooperatives market fish of the value of about Rs. 32 lakhs per annum and arrange for the supply of fishermens' requirements. Cooperative marketing has also been developed in fishing villages in Saurashtra.
32. In the development of sea fisheries, the tasks to be undertaken fall broadly under four categories: (1) improvement of fishing methods, (2) development of deep sea fishing, (3) the provision of fishing harbours, and (4) the organisation of fish transport, storage, marketing and utilisation of fish. With the craft now in use, the activities of fishermen are confined largely to a coastal belt of about 7 to 10 miles, so that fish resources further away or in deeper waters are exploited only to a very limited extent. For increasing production in off-shore waters, mechanisation of fish- ing craft and improved fishing methods are essential. During the past four years in Bombay about 600 boats have been `motorised' and the supply of fish to the city of Bombay has increased four-fold from 10,000 tons to 40,000 tons per annum. In Saurashtra more than 40 boats have been fitted with inboard engines, in addition to the use of outboard motors in some boats. In some maritime States, with the assistance of foreign experts, designs of existing boats are being modified and new designs are being studied. The second five year plan provides for the expansion of existing activities relating to mechanisation and development of improved fishing methods.
33. The Central Deep Sea Fishing Station at Bombay has undertaken exploratory fishing operations for charting fishing grounds, assessing the suitability of different kinds of craft and gear under Indian
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conditions, determining fishing seasons and training of personnel. Areas off the coast of Bombay and Saurashtra within the 40 fathom line have been charted to a considerable extent and some valuable fishing grounds have been located. Various methods of fishing are being tried out by a fleet of seven vessels. Similar work has been undertaken in the Bay of Bengal by the West Bengal Government and in Madas, Travancore-Cochin and Saurashtra also experimental fishing with different kinds of boats and gear has been in progress. The activities of the Deep Sea fishing Station at Bombay are to be extended and the, charting of fishing grounds beyond the 40 fathom line undertaken during the second five year plan. Exploratory fishing and charting of fishing grounds have also to be carried out further south. on the west coast and on the east coast. Three exploratory fishing stations are to be established at Cochin, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair.