Govt to conduct livestock census from Oct 1

The 20th livestock census will be conducted from October 1 across the country and breed-wise details will be collected that will help in framing policies for breed improvement, the agriculture ministry said Friday.

The data will be collected through tablets/computers and a mobile application software has already been developed for collecting and transferring the data online, it said.

So far, 19 such census have been conducted in participation with states and union territories (UTs). The last census was conducted in 2012.

"States and union territories have been requested to start the census operations from October 1. ...the enumeration will be done in all villages and urban wards," an official statement said.

Various species of animals -- cattle, buffalo, mithun, yak, sheep, goat, pig, horse, pony, mule, donkey, camel, dog, rabbit and elephant and poultry birds such as fowl, duck, emu, turkeys, quail among others -- possessed by the households, household enterprises/non-household enterprises and institutions will be counted at their site, it said.

According to the agriculture ministry, the tablets procured under the National Mission on Bovine Productivity (NMBP) scheme will be used for data collection and necessary support has been provide to the states on the same.

A mobile application software has already been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for collecting and transferring the data online.

"It is expected that the data collection through tablets will be of great help in reducing the time gap in data collection, data processing and report generation," the statement said.

The ministry said the initiatives on collection of breed-wise reliable information of various species will give vital information for determination of threatened indigenous breeds and to take initiatives for their conservation.

Considering this aspect, the 20th Livestock Census would be a breed-wise Livestock Census which will be helpful for framing policies or programmes for breed improvement, it said.

The ministry also mentioned that the breed-wise information of livestock and poultry will be collected from every survey unit.

The breeds of various major species including poultry as registered by National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) will be covered in the livestock census.

Further, the latest data on fishermen folk are available as per Livestock Census 2003 only. Therefore, the fishery part is a very important component so as to capture the information of fishermen families and infrastructure available for both inland and marine sector, it added.