Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS): Stray cattle is a pan-India problem and can be addressed if cow dung is made commercially viable, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala said on Saturday.

Rupala said that his Ministry was keenly observing an arrangement between a research organisation and a cattle shelter in Gujarat, which is examining the financial viability of the sale of value added cow dung.

"This is a pan India problem. We tried to get to the bottom of the issue and we realised how do animals become stray. Until a cow yields milk, until then people keep it. But when they become non productive, people let them loose," Rupala told reporters at a press conference in Panaji.

"We are trying a new experiment through which we are trying to add value to cow dung and the product is then marketed in order to sustain non-productive animals. We are keeping watch on the Jalaram gaushala in Gujarat which has more than 10,000 animals and has signed a scientific organisation," Rupala said.

The Union Minister also said that the dung was being procured from the cattle shelter at the rate of Rs 3 per kg and was processed for value addition.

"If sale of dung at Rs 3 can become a broad success then we will replicate (the model) in other states along with state governments," Rupala said.