As many as 3,500 enumerators will collect data from close to 1.6 lakh households, farms, and establishments in Kerala for the 21st Livestock Census planned nationwide from September to December this year.
The enumerators will record the primary data using the specially-designed ‘21st Livestock Census’ mobile app. The census, carried out once in five years, is designed to provide information on livestock population - domestic animals and poultry birds - along with their breed, sex, and age in rural and urban areas.
The census will cover cattle, buffalo, mithun, yak, sheep, goat, pig, horse, pony, mule, donkey, camel, pig, dog (including strays), rabbit, and elephant and birds such as chicken, duck, turkey, emu, quail, guineafowl, ostrich, and goose. The exercise will cover households, non-households, enterprises, and institutions and all defence establishments, para-military and State police establishments.
‘Stick to deadline’
Inaugurating a training programme for enumerators and supervisors on the use of the mobile app here on Thursday, Minister for Animal Husbandry J. Chinchurani highlighted the importance of accuracy and comprehensiveness of the collected data, since government policies and programmes aimed at the development of the livestock sector is dependent on these critical inputs. She also urged the field staff to stick to the deadline as the census is carried out simultaneously across the nation.
The 20th census, held in 2019, covered 15,962 rural wards and 3,527 urban wards in Kerala. The 2019 exercise revealed a 6.34% increase in the total livestock population over 2012. Cattle population went up by 1.01% while buffalo population dipped by 0.75%. The number of goats rose by 9.08%, sheep by 2.49%, and pigs by 86.19% during this period. In the case of fowls, the increase was 22.61%, and ducks 3.94%.
Sreekumar B., Director, Economics and Statistics department, released the Malayalam edition of the operational guidelines for the 21st census.
