Cows, welfare and farming in India

Cows, welfare and farming in India

Cathy Dwyer recently joined fellow Vet School colleagues, Gurpreet Grewal-Kang, Gurå Berkvist and Harish Lochun, on a trip to Delhi and the Punjab in India.

The trip focused on developing new partnerships in animal welfare and veterinary medicine as well as visiting current collaborators and promoting the new Global Academy in Agriculture and Food Security.  The team visited the Nabha foundation in the Punjab, to see the work the foundation are doing in promoting organic production methods, particularly focusing on a reduction in pesticide use even in non-organic production, and increasing food safety.

We also visited projects encouraging traditional craft methods and providing opportunities for women’s empowerment in Indian villages, as well as visiting a gowshala (cow sanctuary).

In Delhi we returned to visit colleagues at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, with whom we are currently writing a new distance learning course on animal welfare, and at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal, as well as visiting the University of Delhi.

Cathy says ‘It was a really inspiring trip. It was fascinating to learn more about the great projects that are helping to support women in rural communities and to look at ways that the University can help support these. It was also lovely to catch up with researchers and their students at NDRI, who are developing some really interesting research in buffalo and cattle behaviour and welfare. We are hoping to be able to work with this group more in the future to help support their work.’