DESK OF VICE CHANCELLOR
Prof. SHYAM SUNDAR DANA
The West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, was established by the Govt. of West Bengal on 2nd January, 1995 vide WBUAFS Act of 1995 with an objective to serve the State of West Bengal as well as the Nation as a whole by imparting quality Education in Veterinary, Fishery & Dairy Sciences for accomplishment of basic and need based Research and dissemination of proven technologies to the farming community through Extension services. Technology is the prime moving force of progress. The majority of farmers of West Bengal are rural habitants with poor socio-economic status and as such, the technologies proposed should be in the low risk and high income category.
Multidisciplinary approach of various nature is thus needed for technology assessment, refinement and grounding of the state farmers. The South 24 Parana’s district which is located in Coastal saline Zone of the state has huge potentiality of development in agricultural and allied sectors. Reasonably, there is an urgent need to establish the Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network (Biotech-KISAN) in unreached area of the district for direct linkage between science laboratories and farms.
It is now imperative that the Indian scientists understand the problems of the local farmers and provide solutions for those problems. Likewise, it is necessary to expose farmers to the scientific solutions available by attracting and motivating then towards adoption of new scientific methodologies within the ambit of scientific environment. This close interaction and need based research will allow innovative solutions and technologies to be developed and applied at the farm level. Sheep and Goat are the main small ruminants of India and the state of West Bengal when is rich of sheep and goat genetic resources. Genetic improvement, to be successful, usually needs to be accompanied by improvements in nutrition, health and management. Improvement of sheep and goat production is very much necessary for benefit the rural community and smallholder farmers of Sundarban and same can be undertakingly adopting area through research and the methodologies developed by the University’s scientists which will in turn rather increase the animal numbers, ensure disease control, integration of fodder production, improved husbandry and controlled breeding which are essential steps to enhance animal production. In this context Biotech KISAN Hub will help the farmers to assure their livelihood security which will be the real success of the project. Animal husbandry is a significant contributor to the economy as well as the socio-economic fabric of the country. In socio-economic terms, livestock and poultry are integral parts of farming systems in India. Farmers depend very much on these resources for additional income generation. Consumer preferences are also evolving to include more processed food, including meat. With rapid growth, the sector has immense potentiality for boosting farmer incomes. Vaccination coverage, along with artificial insemination coverage have been in considered as monitorable indicators under this programme. Extension activities of Biotech KISAN Hub has been extended in the aspirational districts (In West Bengal, as per NITI Ayog,1. Nadia, 2. Murshidabad , 3. Birbhum ,4. Maldah, 5. Dakshin Dinajpur) under “Lower Gangetic Plains Region.” All these activities will help towards effective implementation available science and technology to the farms in the form of understanding the problems of the local farmers and provide solutions for those problems through a close conjunction, of scientists and farmers to improve the working condition of small and marginal farmers. This programme aims to work with small and marginal farmers especially the woman farmers for better agriculture productivity through scientific intervention and by evolving best farming practices in the state of West Bengal particularly and also in the Indian context as whole.