On the eve of International Women’s Day, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying organized a virtual program to spread “Awareness on Zoonotic Diseases” through the Common Service Centres (CSC) network. Around 2050 camps organised by Village level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) across 21 States and UTs, joined virtually. The session was chaired by Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Smt. Alka Upadhyaya. More than 1 lakh livestock women farmer participants were given information about various zoonotic diseases, clean milk production, and the role of ethnoveterinary medicines in disease prevention by experts and veterinarians during the program.
During the session, Smt. Alka Upadhyaya interacted with women livestock rearing and dairy farmers and enquired about the health, vaccination status of their livestock etc. Secretary, DAHD mentioned the significant role women play in Dairy cooperative societies (DCS) and stated that their collective efforts have ensured greater credit facility and expanded customer base manifold. She added that the perseverance of women dairy farmers has been remarkable who have been able to organize themselves via Farmer Producer Organisations(FPOs), Community Linked Farmers (CLFs) and Self Help Groups (SHGs) where Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS) were not present. Smt. Upadhyaya said that while contribution of women to the dairy sector is enormous, they should also focus on availing benefits of central government schemes in the sector. She highlighted that schemes for goat and sheep rearing can help women farmers in getting good returns at low cost. Citing example of the covid pandemic, she stated that there is a need to focus on preventing zoonotic dieseases to prevent animal human disease tranmission and loss of productivity.
Ms. Varsha Joshi, Additional Secretary, DAHD, in her interaction with women farmers focused on the linkages between animal husbandry practices and public health. She emphasized upon the need for hygienic, sustainable practices in the sector and discussed the significance of clean milk production and taking biosecurity measures to prevent the transmission of diseases from animals to humans.
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