Stakeholders Meet on “Improvement of Donkey and Non-Bovine Milk” organized at ICAR-NRCC

13^th December 2022, Bikaner

Stakeholders meet on “Improvement of Donkey and Non-Bovine Milk" was organized in hybrid mode at ICAR- National Research Centre On Camel, Bikaner today in collaboration with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), New Delhi. The programme was attended by diverse group of stakeholders like academician, researchers, policy planners, NGOs, entrepreneurs and farmers engaged in improvement of donkey and non-bovine milk.

The inaugural session was chaired by Dr H. Rahman, regional representative of ILRI for South-Asia accompanied with Prof. (Col.) A.K. Gahlot, Member-Governor’s Advisory Board, Rajasthan, Prof. Satish K. Garg, Vice-Chancellor, RAJUVAS, Bikaner, Dr T.K. Bhattacharya, Director, ICAR-NRC on Equines and Dr A. Sahoo, Director, ICAR-NRC on Camel.

Dr H. Rahman said that findings of the Donkey projects and the inputs received from various stakeholders will be synthesised to develop necessary guidelines and intervention strategies for improving the welfare of the donkey and donkey owners. He said that ILRI will continue to work in close association with ICAR and other groups for the socio-economic upliftment and sustenance of population involved in donkey and other non-bovine species. He exhorted that ILRI will take up a programme involving small ruminants and Camel of the arid Rajasthan very soon.

Prof. Col. Dr A.K. Gahlot highlighted the need of developing designs of pack suitable for load carrying to donkey, improve the food availability and livelihood security of the donkey owners. He also expressed the need of diversifying the non-bovine milk market through various products development and creating innovation platform for milk marketing.

Prof. Satish K. Garg reiterated that efforts to maximise the economic benefits of donkey farmers and non-bovine milk producers.

Dr T.K. Bhattacharya emphasized the need to characterise the donkey population of Rajasthan and accelerate the FSSAI approval of the Donkey milk for giving impetus to donkey milk marketing value-chain.

Dr A. Sahoo highlighted the threatening declining population of camel and donkey in India vis-à-vis rest of the world, how this decline can be arrested by various interventions like reinventing its usage from draft to dairy, policy changes and developing regulatory frameworks for non-bovine milk trade and export.

Way forward and critical recommendations for the planners, policy-holders and research groups to authenticate its usage in human therapeutics, constraints involved in collection, processing and marketing and policy interventions to facilitate marketing in India and abroad were suggested.

(Source: ICAR- National Research Centre On Camel, Bikaner)