The Central government will spend ₹9,800 crore on livestock development over the next five years in a bid to leverage almost ₹55,000 crore of outside investment into the sector, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decided on Wednesday. It would do this by merging a slew of schemes into three main programmes, focussed on indigenous cows and dairy development, livestock health, and infrastructure development, an official statement said.
The CCEA approved the implementation of the special livestock sector package by revising and realigning the various components of the existing schemes in order to boost growth and make animal husbandry more remunerative for the 10-crore farmers engaged in it, said the statement.
The commitment of ₹9,800 crore over the next five years is expected to leverage an investment of ₹54,618 crore, including spending by State governments and cooperatives, financial institutions and external funding agencies, as well as other stakeholders.
All schemes of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying will be merged into three broad categories. The first will include the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, which focusses on the development of indigenous breeds, as well as the National Programme for Dairy Development, the National Livestock Mission, and the Livestock Census and Integrated Sample Survey.
The second one includes the Livestock Health and Disease Control scheme and the National Animal Disease Control Programme.
The third will merge the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund, and also incorporate support to dairy cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations engaged in dairy activities.
