SHEAR DESPERATION

India's once thriving wool economy now depends on imports to sustain demand. Will the recent import of Australian Merino sheep for crossbreeding be enough to revive the sector?

- SHAGUN KAPIL

BY THE end of this year, shepherds in Uttarakhand will get a batch of lambs through crossbreeding of sheep indigenous to the region with Australian Merino sheep, known to have the softest and finest wool used for apparel. These lambs will be the first signs of success of an import exercise that the government resumed after 30 years, in 2019, with an aim to boost the pastoral economy and reduce the country's import dependence on raw wool. The last import was of Rambouillet sheep from the US in 1993. Its purpose was crossbreeding, which happened to officials' satisfaction; however, low survival rates of imported sheep and limited success in obtaining wool deterred further exercises. This time, to lower mortality rates, we have imported from areas in Australia that have similar climates as our Himalayan states,” says Ashok Liladhar Bist, additional chief executive, Uttarakhand Sheep and Wool Development Board.

Of the 860 Australian Merino sheep imported between December 2019 and February 2020 under the National Livestock Mission, Jammu and Kashmir have received 420, Uttarakhand 240, and Himachal Pradesh 200. Plans are also underway to import sheep for Rajasthan, the country’s largest wool producer known for its superior carpet grade Chokla and Magra wool. Carpet grade is rougher than apparel grade and accounts for 85 per cent of India's production. Apparel grade wool accounts less than for 5 per cent of production, and coarse grade fit for making rough blankets accounts for the rest. The main trigger for import, says Bist, is deteriorating quality and quantity of carpet and apparel grades, largely due to inbreeding.

SCARCITY AMID PLENTY