Improvement of Livestock Sector in Rainfed Areas Status and Strategies

Abstract

Indian agriculture is characterized by crop production under different agro climatic regions varying from arid to temperate agro eco zones. Rainfed agro-eco system occupies a significant place in Indian agriculture covering about 66 per cent of the net cultivated area, supporting 40 per cent of the country's population and contributing 44 per cent to the food basket. Livestock rearing has been an integral part of agriculture in the rainfed agro eco system and is a major source of livelihood and income to majority of resource poor farmers of the region. In spite of the fact that the rainfed area is endowed with large numbers of different species of livestock and also a good amount of feed resources, the productivity of the livestock is comparatively very low and as such the farmers are not finding animal rearing a remunerative proposition. Focused attention is needed for comprehensive livestock development in rainfed areas of the country, which would go a long way in providing the landless and small farmers an assured source of income. Moreover, looking into the overall growth of the livestock sector in the country and the projected targets to be achieved for milk, meat, wool and eggs by the year 2020, it is imperative that the contribution from rainfed areas to the national pool has to be substantially increased. In the present paper, current livestock and feed resource availability scenario is summarized and strategies for overall livestock development in the region are discussed