Two-Day meeting on Improvement of Animal Husbandry and Dairying Staistics begins

New Delhi, October 29: The Meeting of Technical Committee of Direction for Improvement of Animal Husbandry and Dairying Statistics (TCD) for the year 2012 began here today. The meeting emphasised the importance of the livestock sector to the nation and how important it was to collect the precise information at the base or field level in this sector. The meeting highlighted the timely collection and compilation of data and the intensive use of technology for the purpose. It also highlighted the need to reduce the time-gap between the collection and collation of data.

Highlighting the importance of livestock wealth in the country, Animal Husbandry Secretary, Shri G.C. Pati said that livestock is crucial as it has the capacity to contribute to agricultural growth and also the income derived from it can be a stabilising factor for the farmers in case of hardships such as drought.

He urged the State Governments, statisticians and field functionaries to bring in a systematic and scientific mechanism to collect the data. He also urged the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), to further review and refine its methodology for data sampling. If required, outside agencies also can be called for help in data collection. Shri Pati also said that apart from production data, there is a need to include data on feed, fodder and disease-control also.