Breed Multiplication Farm Entrepreneurship Scheme, Mizoram (National Livestock Mission)

What is the Breed Multiplication Farm Entrepreneurship Scheme?

The Breed Multiplication Farm Entrepreneurship Scheme is a capital subsidy window of the National Livestock Mission, run by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. In Mizoram it is publicised and supported by the Animal Husbandry & Veterinary (AH&Vety) Department, Government of Mizoram, which hosts the scheme brochure on its own website alongside the Feed and Fodder, Poultry and Piggery entrepreneurship brochures.

A Breed Multiplication Farm is a commercial dairy farm with a specific purpose: it produces elite heifers using sex-sorted semen or IVF technology. Conventional breeding gives roughly half male calves, which are of little value to a dairy operation. Sex-sorted semen pushes the proportion of female calves far higher, so a farm that runs the technology at scale becomes a supplier of high-genetic-merit heifers to other dairy farmers.

For Mizoram the relevance is in the second half of that sentence. The state's cattle population is small and its dairy sector is import-dependent, and the AH&Vety Department has been building breeding infrastructure; including a Breed Development and Conservation Centre for Mithun at Thenzawl in Serchhip district and a Mithun Multiplication Centre at Lungkawlh, that a private breed multiplication farm would sit alongside.

This is a scheme for an entrepreneur, not for a household. The indicative model project is built around 200 cows and costs Rs 401 lakh. It is worth being clear about that before reading further.

How much subsidy is available?

The maximum subsidy will not exceed Rs 2.00 crore. It is a 50 per cent capital subsidy on the project cost, and it is released in three tranches tied to physical milestones:

1. 50 per cent of the subsidy: released after the first tranche of the bank loan is released.
2. 25 per cent of the subsidy; released after all infrastructure is in place along with induction of animals.
3. 25 per cent of the subsidy; released after 10 per cent of calves are born.

That third milestone is the one entrepreneurs underestimate. From loan sanction to the birth of the first cohort of calves is realistically two years or more, which means a quarter of the subsidy sits unreleased for that whole period and the project's working capital has to carry it.

What does the model project cost?

The brochure's indicative cost of a model Breed Multiplication Farm project:

Activities supported are the construction of cattle sheds, purchase of relevant equipment, and procurement of elite bull mothers.

At a Rs 401 lakh model cost, a 50 per cent subsidy comes to about Rs 200 lakh — which is exactly why the Rs 2 crore ceiling is set where it is. A larger project does not attract more subsidy.

Who is eligible for the Breed Multiplication Farm scheme?

Eligible entities, you can apply if you are:

• An individual entrepreneur
• A Self Help Group (SHG)
• A Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO)
• A Farmer Cooperative Organisation (FCO)
• A Joint Liability Group (JLG)
• A Section 8 company

Selection criteria, both must be met:

1. A trained entrepreneur, or an entrepreneur employing trained experts to run the project.
2. Own land or leased land.

To these the process flow adds two more hard requirements at the second stage: an Earnest Money Deposit and a tie-up for a 50 per cent loan.

You cannot apply if:

• You have no land, owned or leased. A 200-cow farm needs shed area at 10 sq m per cow before you count the isolation shed, administration block, feed store and implement shed.
• You cannot tie up a bank loan for 50 per cent of the project cost. The scheme is a subsidy on a financed project, and the first subsidy tranche is keyed to the first loan tranche.
• You are untrained and do not intend to employ trained experts. Running sex-sorted semen or IVF breeding is not a self-taught activity.
• You want help buying one or two cows. This is not a smallholder scheme and there is no personal-benefit version of it. A dairy farmer at that scale should look at the AH&Vety Department's state schemes and at the Family Oriented SEDP cattle farming trade instead.
• You want the money up front. Nothing is released before the project is under construction with a bank loan behind it.

How to apply for the Breed Multiplication Farm scheme

1. Open tenders.nddb.coop and find the notice "EOI to establish Breed Multiplication Farm". Unlike the other National Livestock Mission entrepreneurship windows, this one is routed through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) rather than nlm.udyamimitra.in.
2. Submit your Expression of Interest to NDDB under that notice.
3. NDDB screens the EOI. Applicants who clear screening are identified and asked to go further.
4. Submit your Detailed Project Report, the Earnest Money Deposit, and evidence of a tie-up for a 50 per cent loan. Build the DPR around the indicative model cost structure above.
5. NDDB screens the DPR, carries out field verification, and hears a presentation from you. This is the substantive selection stage. The site, the land papers, the technical plan and the promoter are all examined.
6. Final selection and recommendation to the bank or financial institution for the loan. NDDB makes this recommendation once you are selected.
7. The proposal, with the sanctioned bank loan, is approved by DAHD.
8. Subsidy is released in three tranches to 50 per cent after the first loan tranche, 25 per cent after infrastructure is complete and animals are inducted, and the final 25 per cent after 10 per cent of calves are born.

What most often goes wrong

• Applying outside an open EOI window. There is no rolling application form. Nothing can be filed until NDDB publishes the EOI notice.
• A DPR that does not match the model. The indicative component table is the benchmark NDDB screens against, and a costing that departs from it without justification invites rejection.
• Land that is not clearly held. In Mizoram this means a Land Settlement Certificate, periodic patta or a registered lease deed covering enough area for 200 cows and their followers.
• No bank willing to tie up 50 per cent. This is where most first-time promoters stop. Approaching a lender before the EOI stage, rather than after, is the practical fix.
• Underestimating the third tranche gap. Plan cash flow on the assumption that the final 25 per cent of subsidy arrives after the first calves.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Government of Mizoram, Aizawl. The brochure's own instruction for further details is to "contact State Animal Husbandry Department".
• National Dairy Development Board: tenders.nddb.coop, for the EOI notice and the submission process.
• DAHD: dahd.nic.in, for the National Livestock Mission guidelines.
• Mizoram department site: ahvety.mizoram.gov.in, which carries this brochure, the Handbook of Schemes, and the feed and fodder, poultry and piggery brochures.
• Public grievances can be raised through the Public Grievance link on ahvety.mizoram.gov.in or on the central CPGRAMS portal.

No fee is payable for the EOI itself beyond the Earnest Money Deposit specified in the notice, and no consultant can secure a selection. NDDB's screening, verification and presentation stages decide the outcome.