Director : Dr. Rakesh Kumar Sharma
Kandi area of Punjab is a sub-mountainous zone that stretches in a thin belt along the northeastern border of the state of Punjab, and comprises the strip of undulating land below the hills in the districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar, respectively. Due to lack of proper irrigation facilities, scarcity of arable land, undulating terrains, dense forest area and growing menace of wild and stray animals, there is decreased production among animals of the area. There was an urgent need to address to the animal related problems to improve their productive potential so as to uplift the economic status of the farmers of the area.
Therefore, Regional Livestock and Poultry Research and Training Centre for Kandi Area has been established at Bhatoli (Talwara) District Hoshiarpur in 2007-2008 with the following objectives:
• To expand the cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and fish improvement programs suitable for Kandi area.
• To introduce small scale and back yard poultry for economic upliftment of the rural People.
• To introduce managerial and nutritional strategies
• To provide extension services to the farmers of Kandi area for livestock rearing.
To fulfill these objectives and to transfer technologies and latest interventions developed in different areas of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Poultry and Fisheries to the livestock farmers, the centre is continuously providing trainings to the farmers of the area both on and off campus in various villages of kandi area. Various animal welfare camps, awareness camps and exposure visits are also being regularly organized under various schemes for the kandi farmers.
The center has recently established several demonstration units to create awareness and employment opportunities among local farmers. These include a backyard poultry unit with a hatchery supplying chicks, a goat farming unit, a honey bee unit, a demonstration fish farm, and a vermicompost unit. Centre is also providing various inputs such as superior germplasm of dairy animals, University-prepared Mineral Mixture, Uromin Licks, and University-published books for improving the livelihood of the farmers. Besides consultancy and extension activities, treatment and vaccination camps are also regularly conducted for the animals of the area. Testing of certain biological samples is also conducted at the centre.
