Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Chandra Kumar informed the assembly that on an average 1400 to 1500 metric tonnes of sheep wool is being produced every year in the state.
In a written reply to a question asked by Bharmour MLA Dr Janak Raj, Chandra Kumar said that 1460.335 metric tonnes of sheep wool was produced in the state in the year 2018-19. Similarly in 2019-20 it was around 1516.44 MT, 1482.24 MT was produced in 2020-21 and 1232.85 MT in 2021-22. He said that the total wool storage capacity of the Wool Federation is 170 metric tonnes.
In addition, the Himachal Pradesh Wool Federation stores wool in rented facilities as per the requirement.
Chandra Kumar said that the state government has sent a proposal to the Central Wool Development Board, Jodhpur on November 19, 2022, to increase the wool storage capacity.
He said that if this proposal is approved, the wool storage capacity of the state would increase by an additional 50 metric tonnes.
Chandra Kumar said that according to the information received from the police headquarters, a total of 24 cases of theft of sheep and goats and other crimes have been registered in the state.
For the prevention of such incidents, necessary guidelines are issued from time to time by the PHQ to all the District Police Chiefs. Apart from this, in April 2021, Standard Operating Procedure was also issued by PHQ, he added.