Sheep development activity was undertaken as early as the early
19th century by the East India Company, which imported exotic breeds for
cross-breeding with the indigenous breeds. Subsequently, with the establishment
of the Imperial (now Indian) Council of Agricultural Research, research and
development programmes were taken up on a regional basis; they included
selective breeding within the indigenous breeds and cross-breeding them with
exotic fine-wool breeds, and covered almost all the important sheep-rearing
States. Major emphasis was however placed on sheep development after the
country attained independence and initiated its Five-Year Development Plans.
During the Third Plan, a large number of sheep and wool extension centres were
established, and a wool grading and marketing programme was initiated in
Rajasthan., realising the importance of sheep in the agrarian economy, the
central government established CSWRI and its regional stations, under an
UNDP/GOI project, to undertake fundamental and applied research in sheep
production and wool utilization and to provide post-graduate training in sheep
and wool sciences. During the Fourth Plan, a large sheep-breeding farm was established
in collaboration with the Australian Government, at Hissar, for pure-breeding
Corriedale sheep. Corriedale stud rams are being distributed from this farm to
a number of States for cross-breeding to improve wool and mutton production.
Seven more such farms have been established in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, to produce exotic
pure-bred or cross-bred rams. During the Fifth Plan, a large number of breeding
farms were planned to be established in the central and State sectors to
produce genetically superior breeding stocks. It was also planned to reorganize
and strengthen the existing sheep-breeding farms in the States as well as to
expand and reorganize sheep and wool extension centres, and to set up
scientific sheepshearing and wool-grading programmes. A number of sheep
development programmes were undertaken under specialized programmes, such as
DPAP, small-farmer (SF), marginal-farmer (MF) and agricultural labourer
schemes. Setting up of wool boards in important woolproducing States was also
foreseen.
The National Commission on Agriculture (NCA) reviewed the previous
sheep and goat development activities and made recommendations on the approach
as well as on organization with a view to implementation of various development
programmes. In addition to genetic improvement, NCA laid emphasis on the
provision of proper health protection, development of feed and fodder resources
through silvi-pasture, and organization and extension activities for the
transfer of improved sheep production technology to the farmers, and organizing
the marketing of live animals and wool.
The breeding strategy is different for different regions of the
country. In the north temperate and northwestern regions, it involves breeding
for apparel wool through cross-breeding indigenous breeds with exotic fine-wool
breeds. For the northwestern and central peninsular regions and Bihar,
selection among better carpet-wool breeds and crossing extremely coarse and
hairy indigenous breeds with exotic fine-wool and dual-purpose breeds to
improve carpet-wool production and quality and mutton production has been
recommended. For improving mutton production in the southern peninsular region,
the strategy contemplates selection within better indigenous breeds such as
Nellore and Mandya, and upgrading of inferior breeds with these two breeds.
So far, there has been very little systematic emphasis on goat
development. Some State governments have been distributing bucks of superior
indigenous breeds, mostly Jamnapari and Beetal, or stationing them in
veterinary dispensaries for natural service. The Sixth Plan evvisages the
establishment of large goat-breeding farms for the production of studs of
important breeds as well as breeding bucks of exotic dairy breeds to be used
for cross-breeding for improving milk production. There is some emphasis on
improving pashmina production in the Ladakh area of Jammu & Kashmir, whose
government has a pashmina goat farm for the production of studs.
