1.20 Cr animals to be covered in Nationwide AI Program

Pashu Sandesh, 12 December 2019

The current coverage of Artificial Insemination (A.I) across India is about 30%. The A.I coverage during 2018-19 in the Districts of Jhalawar and Baran was 9% and 6% respectively. Government is promoting usage of sex-sorted semen. As envisaged under the scheme, Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) establishment of sex-sorted semen facility has been approved at 12 A graded semen stations in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh in the country.

To increase the A.I coverage in the country, Government has launched Nationwide Artificial Insemination programme (NAIP) in 600 districts having less than 50% A.I coverage covering 100 villages per district and 200 bovines per village. During the programme, 1.20 Cr animals are proposed to be covered. 

As on 5.12.2019, 4.73 Lakh animals are covered. The future roadmap has been prepared by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for enhancing the A.I coverage from present 30% to 70% and the additional fund requirement has been made with Ministry of Finance.

The annual target set under the project for the 12 sex-sorted semen facilities is 2.4 million doses. So far, the facility for production of 6 lakh doses/annum is made functional. Till date, 3 lakh doses have been produced. 

Under RGM, the establishment of 30 Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT)/ In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Labs have been sanctioned and funds have already been released to the States. It is envisaged that 3000 high genetic merit bulls of Indigenous breed will be produced thro ETT/IVF technology to meet the shortage of bulls in the country. 

The current production of Fisheries is 13.42 MMT and the target set for 2020-21 is 15.90 MMT. No report of overfishing of sharks in the Indian Ocean is received in the Department of Fisheries, Government of India.