Now hostels for animals in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR - An innovative concept of ‘animal hostels’ to house cattle in a common facility in villages is being pursued vigorously in Gujarat, according to agriculture and fisheries minister Dilip Sanghani.

Outlining the golden goals set by his department in the golden jubilee year of the state, Sanghani said here Wednesday that this was a novel concept initiated by the chief minister and entailed construction of a common central facility in a village where all the milch cattle could be kept.

“We are undertaking construction of animal hostels in villages with a capacity of 1,000 milch cattle. This will ensure that the villages and individual homes remain clean as the cattle can be kept in a central place for the entire village. The dung and urine can be collected and put to scientific use. We can have group gobar (cow dung) gas plants which will ensure cheap, clean cooking fuel for individual homes while the slurry can be used to make vermicompost,” he added.

Pointing out that the contribution of animal husbandry and dairy industry in total domestic production of the state stood at Rs.14,733 crore i.e. 4.8 percent, Sanghani said Gujarat’s cattle stock is 235.25 lakh as per the cattle census of 2007, and includes 79.76 lakh cows, 87.74 lakh buffaloes and 20.02 lakh sheep.