Three-day National Dairy Mela begins at NDRI in Karnal

Karnal, April 8

For the first time, a cloned buffalo ‘Swasarupa’ was displayed for the public at a three-day long National Dairy Mela, which began today at the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).

Usually, live cloned animals are kept within the restricted area of the institution and only people related to research or farmers visiting the institution are allowed to take a look. However, according to the scientists, the purpose to display the buffalo was to make people aware of the technology.

Thousands visit on day 1

• On the first day, thousands of farmers visited the mela and found out about various techniques, products and research works.
• A beauty contest, milking competition among livestock and other events will also be held on Sunday and Monday.

Dr Bhupendra Nath Tripathi, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, inaugurated the mela, which has been organised after three years.

Latest technologies for farmers

The mela is a platform where efforts have been made to bring the latest technologies of dairy science to the farmers. —Dr Dheer Singh, Director, NDRI

While addressing the farmers and scientists, Dr Tripathi said there was a need for the farmers and cattle rearers to promote indigenous breeds of cows that have more chances of sustaining climate change. At the time of the Independence, the number of cows and buffaloes were around 20 crore, which has now gone up to 30 crore. This has happened due to better nutrition and use of the latest technologies.

Dr Manmohan Singh Chauhan, Vice Chancellor, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pant Nagar, said today everyone in the country was talking about science and technology. Consequently, there was a need for the country’s farmers and cattle rearers to adopt scientific methods to augment milk production.