The 19th Livestock Census will be conducted in the State from September 15 to October 15 by drafting 1,200 enumerators to visit houses, enterprises and institutions — both in rural and urban areas — to collect information about type of livestock, poultry and number of equipment used in the animal husbandry sector.
The Census, which is the part of all India Livestock Census 2012, to be conducted once in five years, is fully funded by the Centre. A sum of Rs. 10 crore has been released for the purpose. The Census data would be used for framing government policies and distribution of various benefits to farmers.
Addressing presspersons in Bangalore on Friday, Adoni Syed Saleem, Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, said detailed information related to cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, ponies, donkeys, dogs, rabbits, and elephants would be collected. In the category of poultry, information of fowls, quails, ducks, turkeys and emu would be collected.
Information would be collected regarding number of equipment used in animal husbandry sector such as milking machine, mechanised fodder cutter, mechanised chopper and baler, mechanised dung collection, disposal equipment.
On an average, one enumerator would be appointed for every 2,000 households in urban areas and 1,500 households in plain areas and 1,000 households in difficult and hilly areas. One supervisor would monitor the work of six enumerators.
About 1.35 lakh households/enterprises/institutions would be covered in the State during the month-long exercise. The data would be made public in November, he said.
According to 2007 Census, there were 3.28 crore livestock and 4.24 crore poultry. The number of cattle, buffaloes and dogs (domestic) stood at 105.07 lakh, 43.29 lakh, and 19.97 lakh, respectively. The first Census was conducted in 1897 by Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the then Maharaja of Mysore.
The Animal Husbandry Department would rope in staff of the Karnataka Milk Federation, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Rai, Primary and Secondary Education and Women and Child Development to collect the data.
In case of shortage of enumerators, the department would deploy unemployed educated youth, the Commissioner said.
