The Uttarakhand government is implementing various schemes to double the income of farmers and livestock breeders in the state. In line with this, the Animal Husbandry Department is providing Merino sheep with a 75% subsidy to increase the income of livestock breeders. However, the challenge remains that the technology to maximize profits from Merino sheep with minimal effort is not available in the state. Therefore, the Uttarakhand government is going to sign an MoU with the Australian government for easy removal of wool from Merino sheep.
In this context, livestock breeders from the state will visit Australia, and Australian farmers will come to Uttarakhand to train livestock breeders in new technologies. This will enable easy removal of wool from Merino sheep, as the price of Merino wool is about 10 to 15 times higher than that of ordinary sheep wool. Additionally, Merino sheep yield about twice the amount of wool compared to ordinary sheep. Therefore, the technology for wool extraction will be adopted from Australia.
Animal Husbandry Minister Saurabh Bahuguna stated that sheep rearing is a major source of employment in hilly areas. The government’s aim was to provide good quality sheep to livestock breeders to increase their employment and utilize the wool for making clothes. For this, the government decided to replace the sheep of livestock breeders with Merino sheep, which would not only fetch good prices for Merino sheep meat but also provide high-quality wool that sells at high prices.
The plan to replace the sheep of livestock breeders with Merino sheep did not receive a significant response. Subsequently, the government launched a scheme to provide Merino sheep with a 75% subsidy, which has shown positive results on the ground. Livestock breeders are actively taking advantage of this scheme.
The minister also emphasized promoting sharing, under which Merino sheep will be imported in collaboration with the Australian government. The government also aims to bring Australian technology to the state. An MoU will be signed with the Australian government soon in this regard.
