February 15, 2012

Indian authorities invest US$81 to tackle livestock disease

Indian authorities will invest INR4000 (US$81) to tackle foot and mouth disease (FMD) in eight local states within the next five years.

By 2025, the southern peninsula is anticipated to be free from the disease, but it might take another five years, according to B Patnaik, who heads the Indian Council of Agriculture Research's (ICAR) project directorate on the disease at Mukteswar.

With India losing milk and meat worth INR20,000 (US$405) every year due to FMD, controlling the disease remains one of the top priorities of the government, amid challenges like rising populations and poor nutritional standards for children and adults.

The disease control programme, which started with an allocation of INR800 (US$16.20), will expand to 604 districts covering 350 million cattle and buffalo.

"As on date, 54 districts covered in the first phase of the control programme are in stage-III, in which the control strategy is implemented in livestock. It is akin to (the) polio programme, in which each animal is given two vaccines every year," said R Venkataramanan, a scientist at the Bangalore unit of Indian Veterinary Research Institute.

Subsequently, the programme will be expanded to 167 district, with the northern quadrangle comprising of Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab expected to be a disease free zone by 2018.

However, vaccine production remains a concern for the country. India produces 270 million doses per year as against the need of 600 million. Only four companies manufacture vaccine for the disease currently.

"In the 12th plan, we will rope in more private companies to manufacture larger quantities of vaccine for the disease to take care of the expanded programme," said K M L Pathak, deputy director of animal sciences at the ICAR.