Anantapur: Indira Gandhi Centre for Advanced Research in Livestock (IGCARL), the only one of its kind in the country began research activities five years after establishment at Pulivendula in Kadapa district. The US-based Genomics Biotech had entered a MoU with the centre to conduct research activities. The company will develop vaccines and kits for dairy cattle. The IGCARL was established on 657 acre with an outlay of Rs 386 crore in 2009. The IGCARL research block was inaugurated on January 25, 2009 during former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's regime.
He had also promised to develop it into a world-class research institute that would generate employment for at least 750 persons and indirect employment for 1,000 more in Kadapa district. Testing and certification of milk and eggs for pesticides and antibiotic residues and composition for export purposes were proposed at the centre. Research on nano-biology, molecular genetics, cytogenetics, cryobiology, microbiology and immunology and animal nutrition to develop vaccines to improve animal health and productivity was another objective of the centre. The centre reportedly had not received attention from successive governments and badly neglected after YSR's demise.
However, the research centre got a facelift after an NRI, Polavarapu Ratnagiri, the chief executive officer of US-based Genomics Biotech initiated research activities. The company signed a MoU with the centre with Rs.18 crore to supply rapid kits, used to diagnose diseases mostly female cattle. Farmers can diagnosis by using kits very easily, the centre said.
