'India can teach world how to connect farmer with market'

New Delhi: Operation Flood in Gujarat is a lesson on how to connect the small farmers with the market, a top official from global research body International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) said Wednesday.

"Operation Flood in Gujarat is one of the lessons we have learnt from India. The country can teach the world how to connect the small farmers with the market so that they can increase their incomes and quality of life," ILRI Director General Jimmy Smith told reporters here.

The demand for livestock products is rising rapidly in India as well as globally and the country has the potential to rise up to meet this challenge, he added.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Deputy Director General (Animal Science) K M L Pathak said India can seek ILRI's help in developing its capacity to treat Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR).

PPR, also known as goat plague, is a highly contagious viral disease affecting goats and sheep in Africa, Middle-East and the Indian subcontinent.

Earlier in the day, noted farm scientist M S Swaminathan while inaugurating the ILRI-ICAR partnership dialogue on livestock said that conservation of biodiversity and genetic resources in livestock is the foremost issue which needs to be addressed in view of the continuous threats.

"Nutrition, climate change and development of human resources are the other concerns for immediate and anticipatory action," he added.

Swaminathan, who is also a Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha, suggested development of an integrated crop livestock farming system and adoption of naturally bio-fortified foods for enhancing nutritional status of the Indian population.

Senior officials from ICAR, ILRI, CGIAR institutions, government departments, NGOs, farmer Cooperatives and Industries participated in the one-day event.

ILRI is a non-profit-making and non-governmental organisation with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a second principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

PTI