Lok Sabha Question No. 904 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-07
Subject: Fodder Cultivation
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: BHARATENDRA SINGH, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, DAIRYING AND FISHERIES LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 904

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 7 TH    FEBRUARY, 2017

## FODDER CULTIVATION

904. KUNWAR BHARATENDRA:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

SHRI D.K. SURESH

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that the area under fodder cultivation is only about four per cent of the cropping area and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  number  of  livestock  is  growing  rapidly  but  the  grazing  lands  are  gradually diminishing  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons  therefore  along  with  the  corrective steps taken by the Government to increase the cropping area for fodder production;
- (c)  whether  various  States  have  failed  to  utilize  the  funds  allocated  by  the  Government  for fodder development and if so, the action taken by the Government thereon; and
- (d) the other steps taken by the Government to reduce the shortage of fodder in the country?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT)

- (a) As per the latest report furnished by Directorate of Economics and Statistics Department of Agriculture,  Co-operation  and  Farmers  Welfare  in  their  Land  Use  Statistics  at  Glance,  the percentage  of  fodder  crops  cultivation  in  the  country    stagnates  between  4-5%  of  the  total cropped area  during the year 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

## Area under Fodder crops in the country during 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14

## (Thousand ha)

| Year    |   Total cropped area |   Area under fodder crops |   %of fodder crops under cultivation |
|---------|----------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 2011-12 |               195694 |                      7806 |                                 3.98 |
| 2012-13 |               194140 |                      9249 |                                 4.76 |
| 2013-14 |               200859 |                      9851 |                                 4.89 |

- (b)  As  per  the  latest  Livestock  Censuses  2012,  the  total  livestock  population  in  the  country declined  from  529.70  Million  in  2007  to  512.06  Million  in  2012.  The  Livestock  Census  is conducted after every five years across the country. The total population of livestock reported in last four census are given below:

## (In Million Nos)

| Year            |   1997 |   2002 |   2007 |   2012 |
|-----------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Total Livestock | 485.39 |    485 |  529.7 | 512.06 |

As  per  the  latest  report  furnished  by  Directorate  of  Economics  &  Statistics  Department  of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare in their Land Use Statistics , there is marginal decrease  in  the  total  permanent  pasture  and  other  grazing  land  in  the  country    from  10,311 Thousand Ha in 2011-12 to 10, 256 Thousand  Ha in 2013-14. Reasons for gradual decrease in area under pasture land  across the States are that the majority of these lands have either been diverted for other agriculture purposes or encroached upon restricting availability for livestock grazing.The  responsibility  to  safeguard  against  encroachment  of  land  lies  with  the  State governments.

State wise area under pasture & other grazing land in the country are given in Annexure-I.

It  is  difficult  to  further  increase  the  cropping  area  under  fodder  cultivation  due  to  more importance to the agricultural foodgrain /commercial crops.

(c)  As  per  the  design  of  NLM,  projects  are  received  from  the  States.  Further  as  per  budget provided  in  the  beginning  of  the  financial  year,  a  tentative  allocation  of  funds  is  made  to  all States and UTs. The States and UTs are asked to submit the proposals after approval of the State Level Sanctioning Committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the State as per the Guidelines. The proposals are examined within the Department and are further approved by the Executive Committee  headed  by  the  Secretary,  ADF.  Most  of  the  States/UTs  utilise  funds  timely.  The utilization is ensured by holding meetings with the States/UTs, video conferencing, inspection visits etc.

(d)  Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF), Government of India has already taken necessary steps to increase fodder production in various parts of the country by providing  financial  assistance  to  the  farmers/  Co-operatives  through  the  States/UTs  under Centrally  Sponsored  National  Livestock  Mission  with  a  Sub  Mission  on  Feed  and  Fodder Development under the following components.

|   S. No. | Name of the Components                                                                                                       |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Fodder Production from Non-forest wasteland/rangeland/grassland/non-arable land                                              |
|        2 | Fodder production from Forest land                                                                                           |
|        3 | Fodder Seed Procurement/ Production &Distribution                                                                            |
|        4 | Introduction of Hand Driven Chaff-Cutter                                                                                     |
|        5 | 5 Introduction of Power Driven Chaff-Cutter                                                                                  |
|        6 | 6 . Distribution of low capacity, tractor mountable Fodder Block Making units, hay baling machines/reapers/forage harvesters |
|        7 | 7 Establishment of silage making Units                                                                                       |
|        8 | 8 Establishment of by-pass protein production units                                                                          |
|        9 | 9 Establishment of Area Specific Mineral Mixture / Feed Pelleting/ Feed Manufacturing Unit.                                  |
|       10 | 1 Establishment/modernization of Feed Testing Laboratories                                                                   |

State wise area under pasture and other grazing land in the country

| Name of the State/UTs       | 2011-12   | 2012-13   | 2013-14   |
|-----------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Andhra Pradesh              | 553       | 515       | 212       |
| Arunachal Pradesh           | 18        | 18        | 18        |
| Assam                       | 160       | 160       | 168       |
| Bihar                       | 16        | 16        | 15        |
| Chhattisgarh                | 863       | 861       | 882       |
| Goa                         | 1         | 01        | 1         |
| Gujarat                     | 851       | 851       | 851       |
| Haryana                     | 28        | 25        | 26        |
| Himachal Pradesh            | 1508      | 1508      | 1510      |
| Jammu and Kashmir           | 123       | 114       | 114       |
| Jharkhand                   | 121       | 114       | 114       |
| Karnataka                   | 908       | 908       | 906       |
| Kerala                      | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| Madhya Pradesh              | 1321      | 1286      | 1291      |
| Maharashtra                 | 1244      | 1245      | 1242      |
| Manipur                     | 1         | 1         | 1         |
| Meghalaya                   |           |           |           |
| Mizoram                     | 5         | 5         | 5         |
| Nagaland                    |           |           |           |
| Odisha                      | 508       | 536       | 524       |
| Punjab                      | 4         | 5         | 5         |
| Rajasthan                   | 1694      | 1694      | 1694      |
| Sikkim                      |           |           |           |
| Tamil Nadu                  | 110       | 110       | 110       |
| Telangana                   |           |           | 302       |
| Tripura                     | 02        | 02        | 1         |
| Uttarakhand                 | 199       | 192       | 192       |
| Uttar Pradesh               | 66        | 66        | 65        |
| West Bengal                 | 4         | 3         | 2         |
| Union Territories           |           |           |           |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 4         | 4         | 4         |
| Chandigarh                  |           |           |           |
| Dadar and Nagar Haveli      | 1         | 1         | 1         |
| Daman and Diu               | 0         |           |           |
| Delhi                       | 0         | 0         |           |
| Lakshadweep                 | 0         |           |           |
| Puducherry                  | 0         | 0         |           |
| Total                       | 10311     | 10240     | 10256     |

(in thousand Ha)