Sunday, March 5 2006 12:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mathura: Expressing concerns over the sharp decline in open lands due to urbanisation and development of infrastructure, scientists here have mooted the idea of finding an alternative to grazing by farm animals.

"We need to find an alternate to grazing to counter the shortage of grazing land we might face in the next 15 years. We also need to locate sources from where we can procure stall feeding," DDG (AS) ICAR New Delhi V K Taneja said while inaugurating the two-day National Workshop and Seminar on Commercial Goat and Sheep Farming and Marketing, Farmer-Industry-Researcher-Interface in CIRG here yesterday (Mar 04 2006).

Recommending setting up of five zones for ruminants, Taneja said goat villages should be formed as per the different breeds. "The Economics and commercialisation of value addition has to be worked out since the consumer would dictate the prices," he added.

Speaking at the seminar, jointly organised by Indian Society for Sheep and Goat Production and Utilisation and Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, guest of honour former DDG (AS), ICAR R M Acharya said farmers should test the new technology to ensure it is acceptable to them.

"We have been ignoring economic and social factors and laying too much stress on scientific aspects," he added.