What is the News?
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has addressed the Saurashtra Maldhari Sammelan. The sammelan deliberated upon the conservation of threatened breeds of livestock, particularly the Halari breed of Donkey.
What is the Halari Breed of Donkey?
Halari Donkey is one of the important livestock in the semi-arid landscape of Saurashtra’s Jamnagar and Dwarka district of the state of Gujarat.
Uses: The Bharwad and Rabari pastoralists are the main communities that use this donkey as a pack animal to carry luggage during migration with small ruminants. The Kumbhar (potter) community also uses this animal for pottery work in the Jamnagar region.
The Halari donkey’s milk is also said to be one of the most expensive in the world which can go upto Rs 1000 for its medicinal values.
Threatened Species: Halari Donkey is currently in a threatened state and requires immediate steps towards conservation to reverse the declining trend in the population.
A survey of Halari Donkey and its keepers in 2015 found that only 1200 individuals of the breed were existing. In a recent survey conducted in 2021-22, the number came down to 439 individuals.
The reasons for their decline are the unavailability of Halari Donkey males for breeding, disincentives to Halari Donkey rearers with no avenues associated with streamlining the livelihoods (based on donkey milk).
Source: This post is based on the article “Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying addresses Saurashtra Maldhari Sammelan” published in PIB on 14th Mar 2022.
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