Even as intensive efforts are on to find adequate sheep for the recently launched sheep distribution scheme, the Animal Husbandry Department is faced with the daunting task of distributing more than 5,300 sheep to the beneficiaries in the first phase of the ambitious programme across the district this year.
The State government launched the scheme on June 20 with an objective to promote the traditional sheep rearing vocation as a means to boost livelihoods, foster rural economy and make Telangana a major exporter of sheep meat.
So far some 135 sheep units have been distributed to the beneficiaries in the district, sources said.
Sheep from AP
The department has set itself the target of distributing sheep units to over 11,000 beneficiaries of the traditional shepherd community at 75% subsidy all over the district within two years.
The Department zeroed in on Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts of adjoining Andhra Pradesh (AP) to get the sheep after its initial efforts to procure the animals from Sukma district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh proved futile.
With a large number of members having enrolled in sheep rearers’ societies the department needs to source huge number of quality sheep of high meat yield and disease resistant varieties.
Demand for scheme
Further, the demand for sanction of sheep units to the members of the SC and ST communities in the predominantly tribal populated district is also fast gaining momentum.
Provision of veterinary care services to the sheep supplied under the scheme is another challenge for the department considering the dearth of the veterinary staff in the tribal sub-plan mandals of the district, sources said.
Mobile clinics
Sheep had been procured from Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts of AP as per the choice of beneficiaries of the sheep distribution scheme, said District Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Officer Venugopal Rao. Efforts are on to procure requisite quantity of sheep for distribution among the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme across the district, he said. The government is proposing to set up mobile veterinary clinics one each in all the Assembly constituencies.
