Rs 500 crore lost

Livestock suffer from diseases (Credit: SOPAN JOSHI / CSE) in the last ten years, exotic diseases affecting the livestock have led to a loss of Rs 500 crore. This was stated by the Union agriculture minister, Nitish Kumar. The diseases - 39 listed so far - are a result of crossbreeding programmes conducted to upgrade the livestock quality. This has exposed the livestock to various diseases both infectious and non-infectious.

While inaugurating a Rs 25 crore laboratory, which has been set up in Bhopal, to diagnose and control exotic diseases, Kumar said that the laboratory will also cater to the needs of the all the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (saarc) nations.

According to him, the laboratory meets international bio-safety standards and is one of its kind in Asia.

The animal housing facilities of the laboratory are also suitable for conducting experiments on specific virus free animals.A risk of these diseases getting transmitted to humans has worried scientist for the past several years.