Animal Disease Free Zones | 29 Mar 2022

Why in News?

In order to boost exports of value-added meat products, the Government of India has called on stakeholders to work towards the creation of region-specific animal disease-free zones in the country.

What are Animal Disease-Free Zones?

• Animal Disease-free zone means a clearly defined part of a territory containing an animal subpopulation with a distinct health status with respect to a specific disease for which required surveillance, control and biosecurity measures have been applied for the purpose of international trade.

What is the Need for creating animal disease-free zones?

• Importance of Animal Husbandry: Animals are the life support system for our rural economy, they provide sustenance in difficult times and are a great source of nutrition, particularly proteins for the rural folk.
  • Animal Husbandry comes under the mixed farming practices.
  • Mixed Farming is an agricultural system in which a farmer conducts different agricultural practices together, such as cultivating cash crops and rearing livestock.
  • The aim is to increase income through different sources and to complement land and labour demands across the year.
• Agricultural Exports: India is the largest exporter of frozen and bovine meat while achieving significant growth in the export of organic honey and fish produce.
• Promoting International Trade: According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), zoning is a risk management strategy for achieving the progressive control and eradication of animal diseases, and for providing guarantees for international trade.

What are related Initiatives Taken by the Government?

• National Animal Disease Control Programme
  • It aims to control and eradicate Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis amongst the livestock in the country.
• National Livestock Mission
  • It envisages setting up animal farms for their rearing in order to produce good quality meat and thereby quality value-added products.
• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund
  • This is the first major fund launched by the government that includes a diverse set of stakeholders such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO), private dairy players, individual entrepreneurs, and non-profits within its ambit.
• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)
  • APEDA was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985.
  • It promotes exports of agriculture and animal fresh and processed products by setting standards and specifications, suggesting and supporting improvement in packaging, marketing strategies, facilitating the development of products for export, setting export zones, and organising

Way Forward

• Sikkim Model: The model of Sikkim being declared as an organic state should be emulated all across the states.
• Improving Quality of Veterinary Services: The implementation and effectiveness of zoning rely on the quality of Veterinary Services.
• International Standardisation: To benefit from external markets, there are ways of speeding up bilateral recognition of disease-free zones, such as bilateral veterinary agreements or free trade agreements that establish clear areas and procedures to be implemented by trading partner countries.

Source: PIB