With over 22,000 cattle covered under the Nation-wide AI program, district Anantnag has performed exceptionally well conducting highest number of AIs under the program in the valley, followed by Kulgam with 16350 and Baramulla with a coverage of 14191 cattle respectively. On a pan-India basis the district has ranked 24th for coverage in cattle from among 600 districts covered under the program. A tweet (reproduced above) from the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of FAH&D (@Dept_of_AHD) posted on June 25, 2020 made a mention of this achievement as a success story.
The Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme (N.A.I.P) was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 11th September, 2019 covering 600 chosen districts including aspirational districts as identified by NITI Aayog. The NAIP provides for free of cost genetic up-gradation program covering all breeds of bovines in a campaign mode to enhance the milk production using low cost breeding technology for improving genetic merit of milch animals with high quality seed.
The program with an aim to inseminate over 1 crore bovines in 6 months also undertook ear-tagging of the bovines with ‘PashuAadhaar’ which is a unique identification provided to the animals so as to enable the Government to identify and track the animals with accuracy and with all details such as the breed, age, gender and owner details. Every cow and buffalo under the program can be tracked through the Information Network on Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH) Database.