Crop livestock interaction for improving livelihood and food security of western lgp farmers (2010)

The research and development community faces the challenge of sustaining crop productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods, and securing environmental sustainability in the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). This calls tor a better understanding of farming systems and of rural livelihoods, particularly with the sdvent of, and strong advocacy for, conservation farming and resource-conserving iecrmologies. The multiple contributions of livestock in natural resource based livelihood strategies is very well accepted In India. But the current and emerging trends in the livestock sector such as faster growth in industrial livestock production, involution of crop livestock integrated mixed farming etc. raise increasing concerns as these can cause larger livelihood and ecological implications. These consequences manifest in the form of marginalization of the small holders and the landless, degradation of land and water resources and contribution to climate change, Though there are isolated attempts from the government and other stakeholders to address these issues, they are not sufficient enough to bring about a significant change. A second revolution in the livestock sub-sector in less hospitable marginalised areas with primary focus on the resource poor livestock keepers would be required to have an inclusive growth. Further, development and sustainable use of waste/common land through sizeable investment, promotion of ecologically sustainable livestock farming through incentive mechanisms, diverting intensive production system to appropriate areas, control of negative environmental impacts o* livestock production through proper policies and environmental regulations etc. are some of the ways to drive livestock production through an environmentally conscious growth path. Uttar Pradesh is india's most populus state. Nearly a third (31%) of the rural population ln*» below the poverty concentrated rurally, socially and spatially in Eastern U.P. Uttar Pradesh eloquently illustrates from rural livelihoods based on buffalo- wheat in the west to cattle-rice in the east. Similarly to the neighbouring Trans-Gangetic Plains, Western Uttar Pradesh benefited from widespread irrigation development and the Green Revolution. Uttar Pradesh is a major wheat, rice and sugarcane producer. Uttar Pradesh alone constitutes nearly half the rice-wheat area in the ASP. Farm size is relatively low, reflecting its high rural population density. Uttar Pradesh's agricultural growth was accompanied by steady reduction in poverty between the late 1970s and 1980s but economic growth Watered in the 1990s. The livestock sector globally is highly dynamic. In developing countries, it is evolving in response to rapidly increasing demand for livestock products. In developed countries, demand for livestock products is stagnating, while many production systems are increasing their efficiency and environmental sustainability. Historical changes in the demand for livestock products have been largely driven by human population growth, income growth and urbanization and the production response in different livestock systems has been associated with science and technology as well as increases in animal numbers. In the future, production will increasingly be affected by competition for natural resources, particularly land and water, competition between food and feed and by the need to operate in a carbon-con strained economy. Developments in breeding, nutrition and animal health will continue to contribute to increasing potential production and further efficiency and genetic gains. Livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by carbon constraints and environmental and animal welfare legislation. Demand for livestock products in the future could be heavily moderated by socioeconomic factors such as human health concerns and changing socio-cultural values. There is considerable uncertainty as to how these factors will play out In different regions of the world in the coming decades.