Veterinary Services  

Sikkim is one of the North- Eastern states situated in the Eastern Himalayan region. The state has a varied altitudes Ranging from 300 to 700 meters.The state is surrounded by high Himalayan ranges , with International borders on three sides: Tibet in the north and Northeast: Nepal in the west : and Bhutan in the east. The state of West Bengal forms the Sikkim’s border in the south.

The state has a total geographical area of 7096 miles and is divided into four districts nine subdivisions with 453 revenue blocks, 166 Gram Panchayat and 905 Panchayat wards .

Structure:
The Department of Animal Husbandry Livestock Fisheries and Veterinary Services is one of the important technical departments of the Government of Sikkim. The Department is headed by Principal Secretary under the Charge of Minister of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services and the technical section is headed by Principal Director and two Directors. The district administration is headed by Joint director beside which the department has the technical cells headed by Joint Directors Viz:- Breeding Cell , Disease Investigation Cell , Feed & Fodder Cell and Extension & Training Cell.

Function:
Animal Husbandry sector is the major source of the supplementary income for the rural households. Livestock production had always been an integral part of the rural livelihood in Sikkim. The livestock wealth of Sikkim still constitutes a natural resource base with immense livelihood implications. The contribution of the livestock sector to the state NSDP is 6.7%.
The Department is responsible for all aspects of growth and development of livestock sector in the state. The department advises and guides the rural masses to maintain different types of poultry and livestock starting from types of breed to be selected, maintenance and health care aspects
Sikkim’s Agriculture economy depends upon symbiosis of crop and livestock production. However, in view of the limited cultivable land holdings and decline in soil fertility, livestock production is the ultimate answer to provide sustainable economic upliftment of the rural masses. Keeping these factors in view, the main objective of the Department of Animal Husbandry Livestock Fisheries and Veterinary Services is to make farmers prosperous through increase the production of milk, meat, eggs, wool and other livestock products in a sustainable manner.

Livestock provide milk, eggs and meat to a substantial numbers of human populations to meet their animal protein requirement. The consumption of protein by Indian in world population shows that animal protein requirement is growing at a faster rate than other sources of protein due to increase in incomes. The present availability of animal protein in an Indian diet is only 10gm as compared to the world average of 25g.

Approach:
The livestock sector plays an important role in the National economy. The Cattle, Piggery and Poultry are considered important tools for the development of rural economy and it contributes towards socio-economic upliftment of millions to rural and urban masses.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services through the application of scientific and technological practices has been engaged in the rapid development of livestock and poultry industry for increasing the production of major livestock products such as milk, egg, meat and wool. With the focus on animal health care facilities, prevention and control of disease improving quality of livestock, improving efficiency in production by improving governance democratic decentralization and involvement of private sector in AH related activities.

Direction and Administration:
The Department is headed by Principal Secretary (IAS) who is assisted by one Principal Director, two Directors, six Additional Directors, and five Joint Directors at the head quarter. Besides this, there is one Joint Secretary, one Under Secretary, one Sr. Account Officer and one Deputy Director (Stat) is assisting the Commissioner

cum Secretary, in managing the departmental functions. We have four Joint Directors, four Deputy Directors at the district headquarters and 22 Deputy Directors / thirteen Veterinary Officers at the sub-divisional headquarters. We have total 85 Nos. of Gazetted Officers and 420 Nos. of non-gazetted staff in the Department.

The approach and strategies of the Government policy are focused on improving the production and productivity of all livestock and poultry to enhance the overall availability of milk, egg, meat , wool, draught power and various other by-products ensuring better pricing through organized marketing, strengthening farmers organization and application of advanced scientific breeding, feeding and management practices.