Projects proposed to make Tripura self-reliant in milk, egg, fish & meat

Agartala: Tripura CM Manik Saha on Wednesday proposed projects worth Rs 969 crore for making the state self-reliant in milk, egg, fish, and meat production.

He was speaking at a virtual meeting of the high-level task force on attaining self-sufficiency in milk, egg, meat and fish production involving chief ministers of northeastern states, in the presence of Union minister of DoNER Jyotiraditya Scindia. Saha said in dairy sector, the production of milk in Tripura for 2023-24 was 2.47 lakh metric tonnes, while the demand was 2.82 lakh metric tonnes, reflecting a gap of 0.35 lakh metric tonnes.

To achieve self-sufficiency in milk production, Tripura has adopted artificial insemination, both with conventional and sex-sorted semen (SSS), he said.

In three years, Tripura has conducted 2.6 lakh doses of artificial insemination using SSS, producing nearly 50,000 female calves. Additionally, high-yielding cross-breed heifers have been distributed, nutritive calf growth meal has been supplied to farmers, and milk cooperatives under the Gomati Milk Union have been strengthened," he said.

Saha has demanded the establishment of eight dairy farms in each district with a capacity of 200 cows each, at a cost of Rs 80 crore, and a project worth Rs 7 crore for strengthening the Gomati Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd with the help of National Dairy Development Board.