CLFMA of India concluded its annual flagship event, 61st National Symposium in a grand manner on 22-23 August in New Delhi. The event focused on the Theme “Indian Livestock Farming: Prospects & Role of Government Policies”.
The Chief Guest of the Seminar was Shri Giriraj Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. Shri. Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Government of India, presented the keynote address and Shri. Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India gave the Thematic Address.
The Symposium started with a Special Session on Aug 22, 2019 for welcoming Shri Giriraj Singh, the Honourable Minister launched the book “Nutritional Guidelines for Animal Feeds by CLFMA”.
The Inaugural Session started with the welcome address of Mr. Divya Kumar Gulati, Secretary, CLFMA OF INDIA who mentioned that the livestock sector is becoming a sunrise sector and all the stake holders including the government have to work in close co-ordination and emphasised the fact that doubling farmers income can be achieved by focussing more on livestock farming. He said that the Symposium is being organized to build that partnership.
Addressing the occasion, Mr. S.V. Bhave, Chairman CLFMA OF INDIA said that the Government has recognized the unexposed potential of Livestock Sector and created a separate dedicated Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and since livestock sector has its own parent ministry now it will be an easy process for all the stakeholders to resolve the issues and problems.
Shri Giriraj Singh said that the ministry is involved in making a model for the livestock sector, which will work on co-existence of all the species including the humans involved in the food chain, Promote Scientific technologies and Integrated Farming Systems. He emphasized that QPM maize, moringa, Bajra and Cassia should be promoted as animal feed as the protein percentages is more in these feeds and can be produced by Indian farmers. He also insisted in starting livelihood incubation centres for livestock and adopt few practices that will benefit the farmer viz merino sheep which will be useful for dual purpose (meat and wool).
Delivering the Thematic Address at the Symposium Shri. Atul Chaturvedi said that Apart from the Doubling Farmers’ Income the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India had the vision of 5 trillion economy and the sectoral allocations were 3 trillion to service sector, 1 trillion to manufacturing and one trillion to agriculture. Presently, Agriculture contributes to 270 to 280 billion and to take it to 1 trillion mark in near future, we need to focus on Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries. He said that breeding techniques, compound livestock feed or nutrition of fortified foods, Control of diseases especially FMD and Brucellosis play an important role to increase productivity of animals. He also emphasized the fact of promoting processing, marketing and exports of value-added products.
Shri Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Government of India delivered the Keynote Address. He emphasised the importance of Food Safety in the Country and FSSAI will be stringent about food safety concerns to ensure safe food availability in the country.
This was followed by the CLFMA Award Ceremony. The Life Time Achievement award was presented to Mr. P. S. Nandakumar, MD, Nanda Feeds Pvt. Ltd. CLFMA Awards were presented to Dr. Ashish Motiram Paturkar, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Maharashtra Animal & Fishery Sciences University, Nagpur, Dr Ashok Kumar, ADG – ICAR and Dr. Raghavendra Bhatta, Director, ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bengaluru for their marvellous contribution to the Indian Livestock Sector.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, Dy. Chairman, CLFMA OF INDIA.
The Second day Symposium started with the Welcome Address by Mr. Naveen Pasuparthy, Treasurer, CLFMA OF INDIA.
Mr. Balram Singh Yadav, Managing Director of Godrej Agrovet Ltd moderated the session “Doubling Farmers’ Income: Government and Industry Partnership”. Session’s Panellists from the Government of India, were Shri. Tarun Shridhar, IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (AH&D), Shri. Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries & Panellist from the Industry side were, Mr. Daljit Singh, Chairman, Progressive Dairy Farmer’s Association (PDFA), represented the Dairy Industry, Mr. Ravi Kumar Yelanki, Managing Director, Vaishaki Bio Resources & Vaishaki Bio Marine, represented the Fishery Industry & Mr. B. Soundararajan, Managing Director of Suguna Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and immediate past chairman of CLFMA, represented the Poultry Industry. The problems faced by the Fisheries, Dairy and Poultry Industry, existing Government Schemes were discussed in detail and recommendations were drawn in the session.
Mr. Narayanan, Advisor – Food and Beverage moderated the next session titled as “Value Addition with Special Focus on Processing”. Session’s Panellist from the Government of India were Shri. J. P. Meena, IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI), Dr. Amit Sharma, Director, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Shri. Tarun Bajaj, General Manager at Ministry of Commerce (APEDA) & from the Industry side Mr. Vishwas Chitale, Executive Director, Chitale Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. represented Dairy Industry, Mr. Ravi Kumar Yelanki, Managing Director, Vaishaki Bio Resources & Vaishaki Bio Marine represented Fishery Industry & Mr. Prashant Vatkar, CEO of Godrej Tyson Foods Ltd. represented Poultry Industry. The Session deliberated the importance of Food processing in doubling farmers income, addressing the traceability issues, reduction of food wastage and Food safety Issues, promotion of Export Markets etc. were discussed.
Next Session on Livestock Industry Interaction with Government of India was moderated by Mr. Bharat Tandon, Past Chairman of CLFMA & Managing Director of Healthline Pvt. Ltd. (Sericare Divison). From the Government of India, the Panellists were Shri. Dr. O.P. Chaudhary, Joint Secretary (NLM), Dept. of National Livestock Mission, Ministry of Fisheries, AH&D, Shri. G. N. Singh, Joint Secretary – Trade, Department of Fishery, AH&D & Shri. Keshav Chandra, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and from CLFMA Team Mr. S.V. Bhave, Chairman, Mr. Divya Kumar Gulati, Secretary, Mr. Naveen Pasuparthy, Treasurer and Mr. Suresh Deora, West Zone President. In this session, the Industry Pain Points were discussed with the Government.
Valedictory Session was proposed by Shri. Tarun Shridhar, IAS(Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (AH & D), Ministry of Fisheries, AH&D followed by Felicitation to all Sponsors, Media, Guests and Invitees.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Suresh Deora, President – West Zone.
