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An increase in human population coupled with urbanization, has resulted for higher demand in meat per capita.Meat and meat products are important for human diet as they provide a great part of nutrients, including necessary trace elements which act as micronutrients. The present study focuses on the concentration of trace elements (chromium, copper and manganese) in the meat of goats (40 weeks age) reared in the three targeted zones of West Bengal, where high heavy metal concentrations in soil and water is a matter of concern. Soil, water and chevon samples were collected from three targeted zones of West Bengal.The meat samples were taken from free range goats grazing locally. Over a span of six months samples were collected, digested and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean values of heavy metals in soil samples ranged from 29.96-49.260 ppm of chromium, 14.65 to 38.3 ppm for copper and 198.6 to 482 ppm for manganese. The mean values of heavy metals in water ranged from 0.006-0.02 ppm for chromium, 0.0024 to 0.0180 ppm for copper and 0.068 to 0.436 ppm for manganese. Soil samples revealed high concentration of chromium and copper whereas water samples revealed high concentration of manganese. These levels did not impact the edible quality of meat. Hence advocating that risks associated with chevon consumption from goats (40 weeks age) reared in areas having high heavy metal residual content are negligible and consumption of such meats should not necessarily cause any dilemma.

Field experiment was conducted in low-lying coastal region of West Bengal to evaluate the impacts of the farm-pond land shaping technology on crop productivity and economic returns. A land shaping model for small holding of 0.30 ha was developed with excavated pond area 0.06 ha, raised land 0.20 ha, land embankment 0.01ha and pond embankment 0.017 ha. The pond size of 72 ft × 60 ft × 9 ft was capable of harvesting 10 acre-inches of rainwater, using for irrigation to rabi vegetables and banana grown on embankments, and also for fisheries and duckery. Results showed that the land shaping programme has converted the mono-cropping situation into multiple cropping with a value crop diversification index 0.81. Besides the creation of additional 410 man-days per annum, the net return from land shaping of 0.3 ha was Rs. 17986 with multiple cropping as against Rs. 2652 from mono-cropped with kharif paddy before land shaping. The net present value of benefit was Rs. 1,17,387 and benefit-cost ratio was 1.97, which was quite encouraging for the farmers to adopt this eco-friendly technology in fragile coastal ecosystem.