Minister for Animal Husbandry J. Chinchurani will inaugurate A-HELP (Accredited Agent for Health and Extension of Livestock Production), a scheme being implemented with financial assistance from the Union government, here on Wednesday.
A-HELP will better coordinate activities in the animal husbandry sector and take services to the doorstep of livestock farmers, a statement here on Tuesday said.
Two thousand A-HELP workers will be trained and appointed at the village level as an army of the Animal Husbandry department to provide various services, strengthen livestock-related activities, and disseminate knowledge on disease control.
Kudumbashree women who have completed 42 days of training have been appointed as A-HELP workers. They will be provided with 16 days of high-level training at the Animal Husbandry department’s livestock management training centres.
The training will cover livestock health protection, disease control, nutrition, quality milk production, fodder cultivation, first aid, information on schemes of the Union and the State government, making arrangements for livestock insurance and obtaining loans from banks, and supporting livestock vaccination. They will establish closer ties between officials and farmers and ensuring maximum services.
The Animal Husbandry department and Kudumbashree will jointly implement A-HELP in the State. Forty doctors from the Animal Husbandry department and 10 Kudumbashree coordinators have received training as master trainers from the National Dairy Development Board in Gujarat. As many as 335 women have currently received certification as A-Help workers. The target is for 1,665 more women to complete the training as A-HELP workers. This will ensure services of A-HELP workers in every panchayat in the State.
Department schemes such as mobile veterinary mechanism, 24-hour call centre, and tagging of livestock will be implemented effectively through the A-HELP scheme, its nodal officer Reni Joseph said in the statement.
Minister for Local Self-Government M.B. Rajesh will inaugurate distribution of training kits at the inaugural.
