Jammu
Over the next three years, nearly 30,000 tribal sheep-farming families in the Union Territory will be provided skilling, financial, infrastructure and marketing support. The Tribal Affairs Department (TAD) of Jammu and Kashmir and the Central Wool Development Board (CWDB), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India have finalised a project in this regard.
Secretary, Tribal Affairs Department, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and Executive Director, CWDB, Ministry of Textiles finalised the project components after detailed deliberations.
Dr Choudhary made a detailed presentation sharing the huge potential of tribal wool as sheep population of nearly 25 Lakh migrate to highland pastures and in the absence of value addition and marketing facilities the tribal farmers do not receive attractive returns. Interventions under the project will provide massive opportunities for sale of wool and wool products with direct benefit to the sheep breeders, he outlined.
TAD plans to train the tribal sheep farmers in mechanised sheep shearing which will lead to increase in wool production, improvement in quality of wool and reduced cost of shearing. Mechanical shearing units worth Rs 2 crores have been included in the project which will be provided to tribal Farmer groups. Each group will be provided machinery upto Rs 3 lakh.
The TAD’s proposal includes establishment of two Common Facility Centres (CFC) — one each in Jammu and Kashmir provinces — equipped with state-of-the-art machinery for wool sorting, processing, grading and packaging. The two will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crores.
The proposal also includes establishment of wool mandis at three locations and more than 40 centres for wool collections and transit support. Other components include the market intervention and support scheme as well as development of a portal for expanding the wool-sale network. Farmer Produce Organisations and SHGs will be constituted under the project to avail benefits under various components of the project.
Executive Director, CWDB, Ministry of Textiles, along with Technical Director Anurag Purohit briefed about the collaboration between the board and J&K TAD for effective implementation of the project to cover maximum tribal sheep farmers, specifically the migratory population to improve their economic status. Specific support is being extended for marketing support and value addition.
The TAD has already provided 20,000 sheep to tribal farmers over the last year and half under specific intervention through Mini Sheep Farms through the Sheep Husbandry Department. Apart from expanding the sheep population the TAD is focusing on marketing of wool to ensure an organised market for optimum returns to sheep farmers.
The training will be conducted by Tribal Research Institute in collaboration with Universities and institutes of excellence in the sheep husbandry sector. The project will be launched from October 2022.
Harun Malik, Director, Tribal Affairs, Mushir Ahmed Mirza, Jt Director Planning, Shama un Ahmed, Deputy Director TRI, Dr Abdul Khabir, Deputy Director TAD Kashmir Dilshada Akhter and senior officers from deptt and central board were present in the meeting.
