Military Farms Service

Military Farms in India were set up to ensure a clean and continuous supply of cows milk to troops located in various garrisons across British India. After Indian independence, the Indian Army continued and expanded the service.[1] The farms spread over 20,000 acres of prime defence land and had over 25,000 cattle.[2] The 39 military farms are spread across India in cities such as Ambala, Kolkata, Srinagar, Agra, Pathankot, Lucknow, Meerut, Allahabad and Guwahati.[3] But recently, after recommendations by the Shekatkar Committee,[4][5][6] all military farms were shut in 2017,[7][8] to cut costs and better utilise thousands of acres of prime defence land.[3]

Military Farms Service
Military Farms Service Insignia
Active1889 – 2017

History

The first Military Farm was set up on 1 February 1889 with the establishment of Military Farm Allahabad . Thereafter a large number of Military Farms were set up which at the time of partition numbered over 100 units mostly in the present Central, Southern and Western Command. With the formation of Eastern Command and Northern Command additional Military Farm Units were established initially on adhoc basis and then regularised by the Indian government in 1993 as permanent Military Farm units.[1]

Achievements
  • Military Farms are pioneers in introduction of Artificial Insemination (AI) in cattle India.
  • The dairy development in the organized sector in India is attributed to Military Farms.
  • ‘Project Frieswal’, a project to develop a cross-bred cattle has become the world's largest cross-bred cattle breeding programme.[1][9]

Decision to shut Military Farms

The Army decided to close down its military farms which house around 23,600 cattle with an annual production of over 33 million kg of milk, in two phases with the last farm shutting down by 2017. One of the reasons the decision was taken because it was seen that military farms were no longer needed due to the growing availability of quality milk and milk products in the civilian market.[10] The personnel of the military farms will be progressively transferred to other wings and departments.[11] All the farms are on defence land and these will be used for other defence purposes.[12] 25,000 heads of cattle, which includes thousands of high-yielding Frieswal cows were given to Indian Council of Agricultural Research and different state governments for rearing.[3][13][14][15]

See also

References
  1. "Military Farms Services". Indian Army. Retrieved 2 Feb 2018.
  2. "Colonial-Era Military Farms Face Closure". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  3. "Army's military farms to be shut, flag ceremony for closure at Delhi Cantt".
  4. "Recommendations of Shekatkar Committee". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  5. "Ministry of Defence approves first phase of reforms in The Armed Forces". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  6. "Push for Army reforms: 57,000 posts to be rejigged, 39 military farms to be shut - Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  7. "All military farms to shut shop by 2017 - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  8. Gautam, R. P. (2009). Attractive Career In Defence. Prabhat Prakashan. p. 27. ISBN 9788188322718.
  9. "Frieswal project: Present status and expectations for the future". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  10. "Only army can take this cow vow". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  11. "Army directed to shut 39 military farms". The Hindu. 2017-08-08. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  12. "After 130 years, government decides to shut down all 39 military farms". India Today. 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  13. "Maharashtra buys 2,139 sick cows from military farms".
  14. "Maharashtra to buy 3,200 military cows as army shuts down its farms".
  15. "Only army can take this cow vow".
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