Military farms' shutdown to hit Rs 800 crore project

MEERUT: A 30-year-long project that cost Rs 800 crore and produced a high-yield breed of cow that, according to experts, contributed to making India self-sufficient in milk production is on the verge of being derailed due to the impending shutdown of military farms across the country.

The Frieswal breed, developed by cross-breeding the Holstein Friesian cow of the Netherlands with the Sahiwal of India, is the result of studies at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's (ICAR) Central Institute for Research on Cattle (CIRC), located on a military farm here. These farms today house 15,000 such cows and 10,000 bulls and calves and have helped farmers breed hundreds of thousands of the cows over the years. The cows at the farms provide 1 lakh litres of high-quality milk every day , mostly consumed by armed forces personnel.

B Prakash, director, ICAR and head, CIRC, said, "In order to provide more quality milk for the armed forces and the general public, a massive cross-breeding programme was initiated at Meerut in 1987 as a result of an agreement between the defence ministry and ICAR. Land was to be provided by the defence ministry at military farms, while technical expertise was provided by ICAR. After intense research and expenditure of close to Rs 800 crore, the Frieswal breed was developed. It had 62.5% genetic strain of Holstein Friesian and 37.5% of Sahiwal."


However, now the scientists involved in the project are a disappointed lot.

"The defence ministry has decided to shut down military farms because the Army is incurring losses while maintaining them. With no other land available to ICAR, the Frieswal project will also be scrapped," added Prakash.

According to officials at CIRC, last-ditch efforts are on to shift the centre elsewhere."The deadline for the closure of these farms is August 15 while the cattle can be disposed of within three months by auction in the open market," said Ravindra Sangwan, senior scientist, animal genetics breeding of CIRC.