From next week, residents of north Bengaluru can get certified mutton delivered to their doorsteps. The Karnataka State Sheep and Goat Farmers’ Co-operative Society is set to launch a “Dial for Mutton” mobile app.
Announcing this at a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, society chairman C.V. Lokesh Gowda said the meat would be certified by veterinary doctors. “We will have a scientific system of veterinary experts certifying that the sheep being slaughtered does not have diseases,” he noted. The minimum order would be 500 gm.
“We have chosen north Bengaluru areas for now as our slaughterhouse will be located in adjoining Chickballapur. Depending on consumers’ feedback, we will extend it to other parts of the city,” Mr. Gowda said. The society has commenced door delivery service on an experimental basis, but the pilot scheme is focussing only on bulk consumers with the minimum order fixed at 25 kg, he explained.
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Expressing concern that middlemen were cornering profits by hoodwinking sheep farmers, Mr. Gowda said the main intention behind the door delivery service was to ensure that farmers get remunerative prices, while consumers get quality and certified meat.
The society will set up six sheep markets in about a month to procure sheep from its member farmers. Scientific slaughterhouses will also be set up in Chitradurga, Bagalkote, and Chickballapur soon, he said. Presently, Karnataka has 97 lakh sheep and 47 lakh goats being reared by 15 lakh farmers, Mr. Gowda said.
He also appealed to the government to set up district-level semen banks to ensure availability of quality breeds of sheep at affordable costs to farmers. He said the government should support in protecting and enhancing the
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