The State Government has decided to promote poultry among women self help groups (WSHGs) and link them with assured marketing support in order to meet the domestic requirement of eggs. A pilot project would be implemented in ten blocks under the TRIPTI project in the first phase, said official sources.
Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra directed the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F&ARD) department to devise specific intervention for promoting layers poultry among the WSHGs. He also instructed to link them up with Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of ICDS and Mid Day Meal (MDM) programme of the School and Mass Education Department for assured market support, said an official spokesman after a high level meeting.
Considering the wide gap between production and requirement of eggs in the State, the Chief Secretary asked the authorities to adopt decentralized mode of production through WSHGs to meet the domestic demand. A method should be devised for simple bilateral agreement among the local WSHGs and School Managing Committees (SMCs) for assured supply and purchase of eggs, said Mohapatra. Since the layer poultry has got immense scope for promotion of livelihood among WSHGs, the F& ARD authorities have also been told to pilot the project in ten blocks covered by TRIPTI along with provision of necessary training and assured marketing linkage, said the official sources.
For the success of the proposed project, the Chief Secretary asked the authorities to identify the eligible SHGs and provide them necessary training and assured bank linkage as well as marketing supply. It was also decided to work out operational models for intervention in the project to facilitate construction of poultry sheds under MGNREGA and provision of financial assistance at subsidized interest rate.
According to official sources, presently, the domestic requirement of eggs in the State is around 64 lakh per day against the production of estimated 45 lakh. The requirement of eggs under SNP and MDM comes around 40 lakh per day. The SNP is being run in around 71,000 Anganwadi centers under the ICDS programme which requires about 15 lakh eggs per day, while under MDM being implemented in 45,000 schools, approximately 25 lakh eggs are required. Among others, Women and Child Development Secretary Arati Ahuja, School and Mass Education Secretary Usha Padhi, F& ARD Secretary Sanjeev Mishra and other senior officials participated in the meeting.