ગુજરાતી
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Merino sheep were brought to Gujarat but wool production did not increase, sheep are dying
Dilip Patel, 26 May 2022
Research is being done by Kamdhenu University for the characterization and long-term storage of ghee made from sheep’s milk. Duma Ghati is made in association with Patanwadi for milk.
In order to improve the quality of wool through genetic improvement and cross breeding of indigenous sheep, the Government of Himachal Pradesh has imported 240 Australian Merino breeds (40 males and 200 females).
Foreign germplasm has been happening in Gujarat for a long time. Although Russian merino sheep are being reared in Jasdan to the native breed of Gujarat sheep, the production of wool and sheep’s milk is not increasing but the sheep population has been declining since 10 years.
The Australian Merino has the softest and finest wool used for sheep clothing. Himachal has modern plants for 1,599 grams of wool per sheep. There are sheep of Rampur Bushari breed and Gaddi breed. There are 7,91,345 sheep in the state. Artificial insemination is done.
A suitable 21-22 micron wool is required for textile production.
India has the largest number of goats in the world at 135 million. Sheep are 6.50 crores.
Patanwadi, Panchali, Marwari, Duma, Nilgiri, Nellore, Mandya, Nal, Chokla, Malpura sheep breeds are found in Gujarat. There are sheep breeding centers in Morbi, Rajkot, Kutch.
Merino and Ramble breeds are bred in Gujarat. The Sheep and Wool Development Corporation imports marie from Russia and the Australian mary and makes extensive use of it in breeding centres.
Merino and Ramble lambs give 4.5 to 5.50 kg of wool.
Patanwadi and Marwari sheep are famous for carpets, blankets and rugs. But wool does not make cloth.
A sheep gets 935 to 1 kg wool in government centres. The G2 breed of sheep gives 1.160 kg of wool. Marwari 1.09 kg.
On an average, 1390 grams of wool is obtained from one sheep. The Animal Husbandry Department is expected to produce 20.04 lakh kilograms of wool in 2020-21. In 2019-20, 22.33 lakh kg of wool was produced.
The highest production of wool in the year 2005-06 was 31.23 lakh kg. Since then there has been a steady decline.
In 2020-21, the biggest decline in 20 years of fire has been recorded in wool production. The production in 2019-20 is 26.86 percent less than the production of 22.33 lakh kg.
The wool production of Gujarat has been declining continuously for 10 years since 12012-13. 53 grams of wool was produced per person. But now 29 grams of wool is being produced per person.
7 lakh kg of wool has been produced in Kutch at number one, 2.19 lakh kg in Jamnagar at number one and 1.70 lakh kg in Bhavnagar at Traja number.
The government has to spend Rs 22 crore on sheep and wool this year.
80% are female sheep. 20 percent are male.
The state imports wool from Bandap from abroad.
In 2012 there were 1.7 million sheep. Most are in Kutch. 3 lakh less than in 2007. There were 17.87 lakh sheep in 2019. 4.66 percent increase. However in 1982 there were 23.57 lakh sheep. In Vagad, 200 Rabari families migrate 800 km every year with a total of 30,000 sheep.
There are 6.11 lakh sheep in Kutch, 2.15 lakh in Jamnagar and 1.32 lakh in Bhavnagar. There is no sheep population in 10 districts. Sheep make up 6.65 percent of the total livestock population.
Earlier people used to buy wool from here. Now no one buys it, it has to be thrown away.
In Gujarat, 4.5% of the land is grazing or grassland. There is pressure in 5000 hectares of Gauchar.
Special Economic Zones – From 1990 to 2001, 4,620 hectares of land was given to industries for SEZs. 21,308 hectares in 2001-2011 and 10,000 hectares from 2012 to 2022. A total of 35 thousand hectare land has been given to SEZ alone. There is a lot to do in Gauchar.
