Livestock farms deprived of govt services in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI, Jan 27:  Livestock firms in the district are not getting proper services from the offices of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) here.
According to field sources, field level units of the DLS in the district are in manpower crisis. The grassroots offices have shortage of necessary equipment. As a result, the livestock farms are in utter disarray.
At present, there are about 14,000 cattle farms in the district. These are running with receiving healthcare from fake physicians or quacks.
According to the sources at the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), as they are in manpower crisis, they cannot conduct overseeing; delivering expected services is hampered. Yet  effort is going on to address this situation, they mentioned.
There are 118 granted posts in these units. But only 74 of them are posted. The remaining 40 posts have been vacant for a long time.
In Tanore Upazila, six posts of different categories are vacant. The case is the same in Bagmara Upazila with seven vacant posts.
Two posts are vacant in Godagari Upazila. Four posts each are  vacant in Poba, Mohanpur, Puthia, and Durgapur. Besides, five posts are vacant in Charghat Upazila. In the district office, four posts are vacant.
Each upazila requires a minilab. But there is only one microscope for district and upazila offices for testing. So, thousands of farms are deprived of getting services from the DLS due to lack of specialised physicians, manpower and tools.
 Requesting anonymity, one officer at the DLS said, the physician crisis is now acute in this sector. As a result,  most of the acivities including cross-breeding, vaccination and treatment have gone to quack and un-registered physicians; expenditure is increasing in farm management as well; farm owners are becoming victims of wrong treatment; and expected production is being hampered.  
Cow farmer Arafat Hossain in the city said, "In my farm, total number of cows is 73. When a cow worth lakh taka falls sick,  I have to respond quickly. So I myself do the treatment. If  I contact the DLS office, they just give information and adivice. They do not come to farm directly."
Cow-farm owner Asgar Uddin of Nawhata in Poba Upazila said, whenever cows get affected by different diseases or other problems, necessary assistance is not found from the DLS office;  government specialised physicians are not available.
In most cases, farm owners are to fall in tension.  As a result, whoever is available at hand, they ask him for         treating. When asked, District Livestock Officer Dr. Md Ismal Haq said, "The manpower crisis has been informed to the authority." He said, the central office has given assurance of taking quick step. It has been learnt, the livestock ministry is taking the quick step to fill the vacant posts of officers and employees, he mentioned.
He further said, problems will be solved if firstly the vacant posts are filled up at the upazila level; a gap has been created as many have joined in higher positions; manpower has declined; and limited officers and employees cannot go to farms physically to  provide advice.
To control supply and sales of harmful steriod and hormon-induced medicines for animal health,  the administration also awares the people of the situation, and monitoring is going on across the district, he mentioned.
 He added, activities are continuing to eradicate the use of harmful steriod and chemicals in the district. Besides, stern measures will be taken if any proof is found in selling government medicines, he warned.
There are a total of 10,693 cow firms,  262 goat farms, 196 ewe farms, and 119 buffalo farms in the district. Besides, number of layer hen farm is 444, broiler hen farm 857, Sonali hen farm 51, pigeion farm 222, turky farm 194, koel farm 42 and hatchery or breeder farm is eight.
The number of local cows and cross-breeding ones is 4,84,216 and 1,21,421 respectively The number of bufallo is 11,342.
There are 10,18,048 goats, 85,794 ewes, 8,24,715 ducks, and 84,55,679 hens. In 222 farms, the number of pigeon is 3,00,766.