Under the new livestock policy, the overall role of the Department and its mandate will be redefined to focus on prevention and control of animal diseases; and livestock development. Delivery of services like veterinary care and artificial insemination will be reconfigured into mobile practices and later would give way to professional practice delivering the input at the farmers’ door-step as paid services.

5.1 Veterinary Service
This change over in veterinary service delivery however will be gradual over a 25 year period. As a first step the veterinary hospitals, dispensaries and livestock aid centres in selected districts will be converted into mobile practices delivering the services at the farmers door step. The veterinary and the para-veterinary officers involved in the mobile practice will be allowed to treat door-step delivery of services as a private arrangement between the practitioner and the farmer. The practitioners will continue to be employees of the Government of Orissa in the Department of Fisheries and ARD and will receive all their emoluments, allowances and perks till they superannuate.

The programmes for animal health care comprise 1) the conversion of the veterinary hospitals, dispensaries and livestock aid centres into mobile practice veterinary and AI services delivery, 2) the capital grants required to equip the veterinarians and the inseminators, and 3) re-equipping these institutions to handle the changed system. Due emphasis will be given for animal health insurance coverage.

User charges will be collected for vaccination / AI / diagnostic services and feed analytical services etc. as prescribed by the State Govt. from time to time. User charges will be spent in the same districts in which it is collected to improve the quality of service delivery without any diversion to other districts. State level institutions like Orissa Biological Products Institution (OBPI) and OLRDS etc. should get share of user charges at agreed percentages.

5.2 FMD Control Programmed
The State Government in consultation with the Central Government and the Governments of the neighbouring states will draw up a State Foot and Mouth Prevention, Control and Containment Project as a part of a larger National Project for the Control and Containment of FMD. The project will cover the entire state but will create a disease containment zone covering the 9 coastal districts in category ‘A’ with the exception of Baragarh District, as it is not a coastal district, and as it also happens to be a border district along the boundary of Madhya Pradesh.

Containment of FMD along the coast will be comparatively easy as the sea prevents the ingress of the disease all along the coast and border vaccinations along the open boundaries will effectively keep the most productive coastal districts under category ‘A’ disease free. The strategy for control will be the tested methodology of the erstwhile FMD Control project in Southern Peninsula, suitably modified to confirm to the geographical formation of Orissa.

5.3 Control of other diseases
Vaccinations and control programme for other disease like HS and BQ will continue on “need basis”, preventive vaccinations in the endemic areas annually based on the state endemic chart and ring vaccinations and stamping out procedures during outbreaks. Vaccines against diseases of sheep, goat and poultry will be stocked in distributed storage points in the districts and delivered to Breeders’ Associations and Self Help Groups for timely vaccinations by the village technicians.

The disease control programme comprises the FMD control programme, control, measures for other bovine diseases, control programmes for sheep and goat diseases and control of poultry diseases. It will require enormous efforts to produce and procure quality vaccines. Hence the Orissa Biological Products Institute of Bhubaneswar and the satellite units will be strengthened, re-equipped and modernized with necessary infrastructure and skill to produce high quality vaccines.

5.4 Diagnostic Laboratories
The existing diagnostic laboratories will be suitably strengthened to take up challenges of emerging diseases with bio-technological methods. Each district will have a district diagnostic laboratory and related laboratories of the Orissa Veterinary College and the Animal Disease Research Institute will act as referral laboratories. Institute of Life Science will also be involved in the exercise.

Bio-security measures will be adopted against hazards likely to emanate at all levels of production of biological and livestock. An excellent but simple disease reporting and monitoring system with NIC network link at district and state level including OUAT, a credible cold chain, systematic vaccination and well orchestrated coordination with border states and center will be the key components.

5.5. Fodder Development Plan
Fodder production by the farmers is possible only if they can spare land for that purpose if they have access to extra irrigation and if the animals they want to feed can viably support cultivation of fodder. In a predominantly subsistence farming system, supporting very low producing non-descript animals, the question of large scale promotion activities for fodder development does not arise.

The new livestock policy initiatives will therefore focus on selected areas for promotional activities. However such activities will not include production of fodder seeds by the Department, but will comprise exclusively promotional activities like supply of fodder mini kits, supply of tropical grass cutting (tussocks) and promotion of fodder seed production by farmers. During phase I, these activities will be introduced only in category “A” districts.

In “A” category districts, by creating access to Institutional Finance, the farmers need to be encouraged to take up fodder production and seed production commercially by exploring market support. Government should provide all technical support for the purpose. Due emphasis will be given on natural fodder resources management.