Shimla: An official from Himachal Pradesh's tribal areas stated on Sunday that raising sheep is a major source of income for the region's many poor farmers.
Indigenous carpet wool in the country comes from the Rampur Bushari and Gaddi strains.
For the sake of a small market in the West, some private organisations are investing in organic certification and standards like the responsible wool standards of the Himachali wool.
The 2019 livestock census found that there were 7,91,345 sheep in the state, including 72,821 of exotic varieties.
The Himachal Pradesh State Wool Federation, an apex cooperative organisation, is doing important work to protect wool growers from being exploited by middlemen and traders by providing a steady income to pastoralists through the sale of wool, animals, meat, dung, milk, and skin.
The federation not only provides the breeders with the technical and mechanical sheep shearing facilities, but it also has a revolving budget of Rs 133.39 crore for the acquisition of wool from the breeders.
Depending on the state of the market, the breeders might expect to be paid anywhere from 125 to 150 each metric tonne procured.
On average, each sheep in the state produces about 1.9 kilogrammes of wool, according to a representative from the wool federation.
Black wool costs between Rs 25.50 and Rs 45 per kg, whereas white wool can cost anything from Rs 34.10 to Rs 71.50 per kg. In addition, the federation offers 20% higher payments in the event of white crossbred wool, as stated by the spokesman, to encourage breeders to implement a cross-breeding strategy and meet the increasing need for clothing grade wool in the sector.
In addition, the federation offers low-cost access to a mechanical sheep shearing facility.
A forward-thinking sheep grower named Jai Singh from the village of Deol in the region of Chamba, India, sells between 900 and 1,000 kg of crossbred wool to the federation at a price of Rs 85.80 per kilogramme. Over eight hundred sheep make up his flock.
A second sheep herder, Mohinder Thakur of Chotta-Bhangal in Kangra district, claimed he moves his herd of around 300 sheep to Ramshehar near Nalagarh every winter.—Inputs from Agencies
