Lok Sabha Question No. 150 (STARRED), answered on 2026-02-10
Subject: Fodder Deficit
Ministry: FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING
Asked by: Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND  DAIRYING LOK  SABHA

STARRED QUESTION  NO. 150 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 10 TH  FEBRUARY, 2026

## FODDER DEFICIT

- *150 SMT. PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA:

Will the Minister of FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has a long-term plan to address the persistent fodder deficit in the country, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of fodder production and deficit during the last five years, State-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has assessed the impact of rising fodder cost on dairy farmers, especially in Kerala and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government proposes to provide subsidies to farmers to help meet the rising cost of fodder and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING

मत्स्यपालन , पशुपालन और डेयरी मंत्री

(SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 150 PUT IN BY SMT. PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA ON 'FODDER DEFICIT' DUE FOR ANSWER ON 10 TH  FEBRUARY, 2026

- (a) to (d). To supplement the efforts of the State Governments for increasing availability of fodder, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India, through the restructured  National  Livestock  Mission  (NLM),  aims  to  enhance  quality  seed  production, promote fodder entrepreneurship and utilize non-arable land through the following activities :
- i)  Assistance  for  Quality  Fodder  Seeds  Production: The main objectives are to  establish effective  seed  production  chain  and  capacity  building  of  State  functionaries  and  livestock owners in forage production, conservation and utilization. Under the activity, the Government provides  financial  incentives  for  producing  Breeder,Foundation,  and  Certified  seeds  (up  to Rs.250,150 and 100 Rs/kg) thereby strengthening fodder seed chain. Under this, 141194.60 tonnes of quality fodder seed (53.00 tons breeder, 6230 tons foundation and 134910 tonnes of certified) of Guar, Maize, Sorghum, Cowpea, Pearl millet, Oat, Berseem and Lucerne have been  produced  during  2021-22,  2022-23,  2023-24  and  2024-25,for  which  an  amount  of Rs.864.61 crores have been released.
- ii) Entrepreneurship in feed and fodder: The main objectives are to develop Entrepreneurship in the field of Feed and fodder and to make available quality fodder with affordable price at the local level. A 50% subsidy (up to Rs. 50 lakh) is offered for establishing infrastructure like Hay/Silage/Total Mixed Ration (TMR) blocks and setting up processing/grading units. Under this, 129 projects have been approved with a project cost of Rs.120.62 crores and approved subsidy of Rs. 52.86 crores.
- iii) Fodder Production Expansion: In order to increase the area under fodder cultivation, the Government of India has introduced two components under National Livestock Mission viz., Fodder production from Non-forest wasteland/rangeland/non-arable land and Fodder Production from degraded Forest lands in March 2024.
- iv) Fodder -Centric FPOs: 100 dedicated Fodder Plus Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) promoted by the National Dairy  Development Board to boost local production and supply under  Ce ntral  Sector  Scheme  'Formation  and  Promotion  of  10,000  Farmer  Producer Organisations  (FPOs)' are  supported  for  various  activities  under  the  National  Livestock Mission.
- v)Technological  Interventions : The  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural Research-  Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute (IGFRI) Jhansi has developed State-specific fodder plans  for  28  States  and  one  UT, which  include  an  area-specific  strategy  to  be  adopted  to overcome the deficiency of green and dry fodder of the region. The States/UTs have been advised to prepare their Fodder Resource Development Plans accordingly.
- vi)  Creation  of  Task  force  in  the  States/UTs: T he  Department  of Animal  Husbandry and Dairying, GoI has requested all the States and Union Territories to establish fodder task force to increase the fodder cultivation areas and convergence of other schemes of the States and Central Government. These efforts will increase the fodder availability in the respective States and Union Territories.

vii)  Animal  Husbandry  Infrastructure  Development  Fund: The  Animal  Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) incentivizes investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs), Section 8  companies  and  Dairy  Cooperatives to  establish  various  infrastructure  activities  including animal feed plants with 3% interest subvention, under which 204 Animal Feed Plants have been approved with a capacity of 146 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT) per year and investment of Rs.3973 crores.

The State-wise fodder production and deficit, as provided by Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Indian Grassland Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, is given in annexure.

As per the information received from the Government of Kerala, the State has taken all possible measures to reduce the cost of milk production by providing subsidized green fodder, silage, hay and Total Mixed Ration (TMR) and also fodder slips to dairy farmers.The Government of Kerala  is  allocating  annual  budget  of  Rs.  8.5  crore  for  fodder  cultivation  through  Dairy Development Department and Rs. 200.00 lakh under State Plan as Kudumbasree linked forage and establishment of fodder demonstration units.

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## Annexure

## Annexure in reference to Reply to part (b) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No.150 due for 10.02.2026

In '000 tonnes

| State/ UT           |   Total Green Fodder Availability |   Total Green Fodder Requirement |   Percent Availability |   Percent Deficit (-)/ Surplus (+) |
|---------------------|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------|
| A &NIsland          |                             115.4 |                            144.1 |                   80.1 |                              -19.9 |
| Chandigarh          |                               1.9 |                             87.4 |                    2.1 |                              -97.9 |
| Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                              26.2 |                            101.2 |                   25.9 |                              -74.1 |
| Daman &Diu          |                               2.1 |                              6.6 |                   32.5 |                              -67.5 |
| Lakshadweep         |                               2.4 |                             23.2 |                   10.5 |                              -89.5 |
| NCT of Delhi        |                             167.4 |                            869.5 |                   19.3 |                              -80.7 |
| Puducherry          |                              18.8 |                            170.9 |                   11   |                              -89   |
| Arunachal Pradesh   |                            1634.8 |                           1387.8 |                  117.8 |                               17.8 |
| Assam               |                           17988.1 |                          22735.7 |                   79.1 |                              -20.9 |
| Manipur             |                             445.4 |                            759.4 |                   58.6 |                              -41.4 |
| Meghalaya           |                            1037.6 |                           1873.7 |                   55.4 |                              -44.6 |
| Mizoram             |                             272.8 |                             97.3 |                  280.3 |                              180.3 |
| Nagaland            |                             577.6 |                            692.6 |                   83.4 |                              -16.6 |
| Tripura             |                             805.2 |                           1916.1 |                   42   |                              -58   |
| Sikkim              |                             190.1 |                            369.6 |                   51.5 |                              -48.5 |
| Himachal Pradesh    |                           12060.6 |                           8383.3 |                  143.9 |                               43.9 |
| Jammu &Kashmir      |                            5261.2 |                          11194.4 |                   47   |                              -53   |
| Uttarakhand         |                            3819.2 |                           8580.3 |                   44.5 |                              -55.5 |
| Bihar               |                           35399.1 |                          49406.6 |                   71.6 |                              -28.4 |
| Jharkhand           |                            7856.8 |                          24358.6 |                   32.3 |                              -67.7 |
| Odisha              |                           15277.7 |                          27700.6 |                   55.2 |                              -44.8 |
| West Bengal         |                           22211.7 |                          35915.8 |                   61.8 |                              -38.2 |
| Gujarat             |                           60720.3 |                          58371.6 |                  104   |                                4   |
| Rajasthan           |                           54504.3 |                          80980.5 |                   67.3 |                              -32.7 |
| Goa                 |                             163.2 |                            248.1 |                   65.8 |                              -34.2 |
| Maharashtra         |                           69700   |                          57992.1 |                  120.2 |                               20.2 |
| Haryana             |                           46841.1 |                          24074.5 |                  194.6 |                               94.6 |
| Punjab              |                           67234.1 |                          24873.3 |                  270.3 |                              170.3 |
| Chhattisgarh        |                           16339   |                          24430.8 |                   66.9 |                              -33.1 |
| Madhya Pradesh      |                           99184.5 |                          67264.6 |                  147.5 |                               47.5 |
| Uttar Pradesh       |                          114500   |                         149959   |                   76.4 |                              -23.6 |
| Andhra Pradesh      |                           26628.8 |                          71799.5 |                   37.1 |                              -62.9 |
| Karnataka           |                           31879.9 |                          38959.3 |                   81.8 |                              -18.2 |
| Kerala              |                            3591.6 |                           3761.3 |                   95.5 |                               -4.5 |
| Tamil Nadu          |                           17735.4 |                          27699.8 |                   64   |                              -36   |