The district will soon have a state-of-the-art veterinary lab complex with all facilities to conduct advanced tests.
Currently the State depends on the labs in Bangalore and Bhopal for tests to diagnose Nipah, monkey fever, and bird flu.
ELISA and Fluorescent Antibody Tests (FAT) for rabies diagnosis, hematology analyzers for studying blood samples, equipment to find irregularities in metabolic activities and provisions to test the quality of milk and cattle feed will be some of the services available at the new lab. Spread over three storeys, the lab will have a total built-up area of 10,000 sq ft. Forests Minister K. Raju on Friday laid the foundation stone of the ₹1.30-crore facility that will be eventually upgraded to global standards.
Inaugurating various welfare schemes of the Animal Husbandry Department, the Minister said the State would soon become self sufficient in milk production.
“Kerala requires 83 lakh litres of milk every day and we will be achieving that target in six months. Currently, we need to produce an extra four lakh litres,” he said.
A fair price veterinary medical shop had also already started functioning in the district and the department also planned to extend organic farming to more places. Another project was roof-top hen rearing in Corporation areas for which the department would be distributing BV 380 chicks capable of laying eggs round the year, he said.
High-tech coops and chicks would be made available to the first 25 customers at a subsidised rate.
All the poultry equipment needed for the project, including automatic drinking water dispenser, trays to collect eggs, PVC feeder, provision to collect bio manure and portable coops, is currently on display at the District Veterinary Centre.
