Arunachal Pradesh Agri Minister explores tech collaboration with NDRI

To explore technological collaboration with the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Gabriel D Wangsu, Minister of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Veterinary, Fisheries, Food and Civil Supply, Legal Metrology and Consumer Affairs, Government of Arunachal Pradesh visited NDRI. The Director and Vice-Chancellor of the Institute, Dr Dheer Singh welcomed the minister and said NDRI with more than 101 years of its existence, has attained its present position as a national institute for furthering the cause of dairying through research and education catering to human resource needs of India and other developing nations.

Singh presented the achievements of the institute and said NDRI had perfected the hand-guided cloning technology, heat detection, feeding of anionic mineral mixture and smart sensors technologies for assessment of milk quality of dairy animals. All these technologies can help in improving the milk production and quality of the North-East regions.

Wangsu, while addressing the scientific community of the institute, said there was an urgent need for developing climate resilient cattle in Arunachal Pradesh since the state’s climatewas very variable. He also wanted to identify two to three indigenous breeds and add value addition to the milk products being produced in the North East for which NDRI could play an important role.

“Since Arunachal Pradesh is a bordering state there is also a need for providing quality milk to our defence forces and meet their requirements,” he added.

The minister visited the Livestock Research Centre and Artificial Breeding Research Centre and saw the cloned animals and the breeding bulls at NDRI farms. He visited the Model Dairy Plant which had a processing capacity of 1.5 lakh litres of milk per day. The minister saw the manufacture of a wide-range of concentrated and dried milk products, cheese and fermented milk products, fat rich dairy products, traditional dairy products and dairy by-products. Various facilities at the Animal Biotechnology Centre and Referral lab were also shown to the minister. The minister was accompanied by Hage Tari, Secretary and other team members from Arunachal Pradesh. Dr Rajan Sharma, Joint Director (Research), ICAR-NDRI thanked the minister and his delegation from Arunachal Pradesh and said a brainstorming session might be held for identifying all issues faced by the dairy farming community of the North East states.