Bengal govt to encourage mithun husbandry in hilly stretches

Darjeeling: The "mithun" (Bos frontalis), often referred to as 'the cattle of the mountains' and 'ship of the highland', is being considered by the Bengal government to be introduced in the hilly areas of the state for its immense potential to produce meat, milk, hide, draught power along with providing an additional livelihood.

An important step in this direction was a workshop on "Mithun Husbandry" along with an exhibition organised by the district administration; West Bengal Comprehensive Area Development Corporation under the Panchayats Department jointly with ICAR National Research Centre in Darjeeling on Tuesday.

"As agricultural land is decreasing day by day, animal husbandry is becoming a lucrative alternative. It has immense potential," stated Swarup Chatterjee, in-charge, WBCADC. The workshop was attended by farmers, Self-Help Groups, representatives of the tribal boards and GTA officials.

"The animal can be reared for its high protein low-fat meat. The milk has 8 to 10 per cent fat and has a calorie content that is double compared to that of a cow. The hide quality is better than cow and is very strong and glossy. It is an excellent draught animal and can be used for tilling. With similar topography and climate, mithuns can be easily reared here," stated Dr Abhijit Mitra, Director, ICAR-NRC.

A mithun weighs 500 to 600 kg in around five years which sells for around one lakh rupees in the North-East.

Interested and eligible farmers will be imparted training at the National Research Centre in Nagaland and will be provided with all necessary logistic support for mithun husbandry by the state government and the research centre.

The mithun is a domestic animal and has genetic similarity to the Indian bison. Mithuns can be reared in free range forests; under the semi-intensive system where they are provided with a night shelter; and an intensive system where they are kept in a shed and not allowed to wander in the forests.

"A model project would be a forest village involved in mithun husbandry involving the community and the woodland," added Mitra.

A mobile app has also been developed for scientific rearing by the National Research Centre on mithun — one of its kind centres in the world.