Serious concern
Government has been working on various serious concerns in society, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. Self reliance in various sectors is important and recently J&K Govt approved Rs 329 cr 5 year project to achieve self reliance in the Mutton sector.
In view of huge mutton usage in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Kashmiri cuisine and in order to reduce meat import in the Union Territory, the government has approved an ambitious Rs 329 crore project for next five years to achieve self-reliance in Mutton sector.
The project is aimed at creating 6000 jobs besides setting up of 122 enterprises in the mutton sector in the Union Territory.
The initiative also envisages achieving self-reliance in the mutton sector through a combination of innovative interventions including vertical upgrades, horizontal expansion besides focused attention on health cover and nutrition. One of the major interventions planned is import of muttonous breeds, which will lead to establishment of 72 breed-based farms to provide high genetic merit to animals. Additionally, the project aims to conduct 1,00,000 Artificial Inseminations (AIs) annually and establish 400 new commercial farms every year. The project also focuses on clusterization, creation of mandis, abattoirs and common facility centers (CFCs), to support marketing and value addition of the sector.
Investing in growth and improvement of the mutton sector in J&K is not only about boosting production and reducing import costs, but it is also about providing quality and safe meat to consumers, improving the livelihoods of traditional farmers besides creating new job opportunities in the region.
