The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department in partnership with the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship, under the aegis of the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Programme (IBDLP) organised a workshop titled, “Co-Ordination Workshop for Livestock Mission Nodal Officers and ERPs/PAs of Khasi, Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi District”. The Chief Guest at the event was Shri. P.B.O Warjri, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Meghalaya. In his inaugural address, he stated that, “We are giving new emphasis to development activities especially those related to the farmer and people living in rural areas”. Mr. Warjri was quick to point out that animal husbandry carries with it a dual purpose, one to serve the need of the family while the other was to provide an economic outlet for the farmer himself. Mr. Warjri made a reference to a survey conducted where it was found that a farmer in a village does not solely depend on one economic activity but several. However, they are generally peripheral and do not provide the farmer with more than his subsistence need. This was reflected equally in the animal husbandry sector as well and thus emphasised on the need to streamline the process of pig breeding or poultry amongst other things to scale up production and meet the demands of the state. Mr. Warjri concluded his speech by hoping that the coming together of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department and the IBDLP would spawn new ideas to improve animal husbandry at the block level during the workshop.
In his speech, Shri R. M. Mishra, IAS, Development Commissioner and Director General, MIE strongly outlined the need to address the demand for enterprise focused around animal husbandry. He mentioned the huge volume of potential partners that had registered at the Enterprise Facilitation Centres (EFCs) for livestock mission, which numbered to more than half of all registered partners in the state. This according to him was a strong indicator of need to push forward the Livestock Mission.
As part of the process to launch the Livestock Mission, the Z-Card for pig breeders was launched. The Z-Card is an illustrated manual for pig breeders indented to provide necessary information on pig rearing at low cost and quick access.