Desi cow population dips nationally, but up in Punjab

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23

The population of desi cows has seen a decline nationally, but it has risen in Punjab.

As per the 20th Livestock Census, the total population of cows (indigenous and exotic breeds) in the state is 25.31 lakh and among them desi cows are 4.25 lakh, which makes almost 17 per cent of the total cow population in the state. It is almost 15 per cent increase when compared to the 2012 census when the count of desi cows was 3.64 lakh.

“It is a positive trend but still there is a lot of scope of breed improvement in the indigenous cattle breeds in the state. The Government of India has started the embryo transfer technology project which is going in GADVASU and Animal Husbandry Department, it will yield good results,” said Dr Inderjit Singh, director, Animal Husbandry, Punjab.

Though the population of indigenous cows is increasing in the state, but nationally it has witnessed a continuous decline in the past three decades. Since 1992, a 26-per cent plunge has been witnessed in the population of indigenous breeds of cows.

Interestingly, the state government has been religiously promoting exotic breeds, including Holstein Friesian, in Punjab since the early 1980s. However, for the past one decade, it has started promoting Sahiwal and other desi varieties with initiatives like compiling a database of all indigenous cows; giving subsidy of chilling machines, pasteurisation plants and milk ATMs amd making clusters of farmers for supplying good quality of milk to the consumers. At one point of time, the government had also tried to rope in Milkfed to sell desi cow’s milk under its brand Verka.