Central Government Approves Special Package to Boost Livestock Sector
Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a special livestock package to revise and streamline the scheme of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has streamlined all the schemes or programs of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under three heads:
- Development Programme: This will include Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), National Livestock Mission (NLM) and Livestock Census and Integrated Sample Survey (LC&ISS) as sub-schemes.
- The disease control program has been renamed as National Animal Disease Control Programme for FMD and Brucellosis (NADCP). This includes not only the existing Livestock Health and Disease Control, but also the National Animal Disease Control Program.
- Infrastructure Development Fund: Under this, Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDP) and Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDP) have been included. Dairy cooperatives and farmer producer organizations engaged in dairy activities have also been included in this third category.
- The central government is committed to provide financial assistance of Rs 9,800 crore for the next five years from the year 2021-22, which will be spent on these schemes. This will help in mobilizing total investment of Rs 54,618 crore in animal husbandry sector. This includes investments from state governments, state cooperatives, financial institutions, external financial agencies and other stakeholders. It aims to increase livestock productivity and conservation through increased investment and infrastructure.
Importance of Livestock Sector:
- Most of the farmers in India depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood. Livestock sector in India contributes to the livelihood of about 55 percent of the rural population. Also, India has the largest number of livestock in the world.
- According to the 20th Livestock Census, the total number of livestock in the country is 78 million, which is 4.6 percent higher than the Livestock Census of 2012.
Source – PIB
