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This story is from September 30, 2014

Center brings Bihar into the ambit of foot and mouth disease control programme

The Center has decided to include Bihar under its foot and mouth disease control programme during 2014-15. It will enable the state government to officially start work on its implementation by carrying out vaccination of eligible cattle and buffalo population.
Center brings Bihar into the ambit of foot and mouth disease control programme
NEW DELHI: The Center has decided to include Bihar under its foot and mouth disease control programme during 2014-15. It will enable the state government to officially start work on its implementation by carrying out vaccination of eligible cattle and buffalo population.
The foot and mouth disease (FMD) is highly contagious viral disease of cow, buffalo, sheep and goats.
It spreads very quickly if not controlled on time. The spread of disease not only affects milk production but also impact meat (sheep and goat) export.
Though the FMD control programme is being implemented in many identified districts across the country, Bihar had, however, remained out of its ambit due to non-reporting of the disease. The decision to include the state under the ongoing programme is precautionary in nature.
“Detailed technical guidelines for all components including FMD control programme under centrally sponsored scheme (Livestock Health & Disease Control) have already been sent to the state government”, said a statement of the animal husbandry department of the Union agriculture ministry.
It said Bihar was requested to assess the available infrastructure and inform the central government about the schedule for carrying out vaccination of eligible cattle and buffalo population in the state in pulse mode along with action plan.
The Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), a society sponsored by the ministry of agriculture, has been selected to function as a ‘Project Management Agency’ to oversee the implementation of the FMD control programme across various states in India.

Under this project, the SFAC has set up a ‘Project Management Team’ to carry out procurement of vaccine (purchase through e-procurement process), inspection of cold chain in transit and also during storage, ensuring timely supply of vaccines to the respective states as per demand and monitoring of the vaccination process on the field
The FMD is considered as the biggest impediment to growth of the livestock sector in the country after Rinderpest. This adversely affects the performance of the animals, resulting into direct economic losses
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About the Author
Vishwa Mohan

Vishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India’s position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.

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