Thursday, 07 July 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In an attempt to ensure supply of green and dry fodder for the cattle throughout the year the Uttarakhand government would soon bring a fodder development policy. Disclosing this the Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry minister Saurabh Bahuguna told media persons at the office of State Integrated Cooperative Development project on Wednesday that the state faces a shortage of 31 per cent of green and 17 per cent of dry fodder as of now. He said that as per the census of 2019, the state has a cattle population of 43,83,000. The state faces shortage of fodder from October to March in mountainous areas and from May, June and from September to November in plain areas. In this period the husk of wheat is supplied from Punjab and Haryana.
The minister informed that the objective of the fodder policy is to ensure supply of fodder throughout the year, increase the milk yield and create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in fodder development. The Animal Husbandry department would be the nodal department for the implementation of the fodder policy while the Agriculture, Cooperative, Forest and Dairy Development departments would be the assisting departments.
The minister said that suggestions have been sought from the farmers and the cattle owners for the fodder policy. Under the policy the department is also planning to encourage the planting of trees like Bhimal, Khadik, mulberry and moringa. Apart from this the subsidy would also be provided for purchase of silage machines. The minister informed that ‘ Fodder banks’ would be set up in Srinagar, Chinnyalisaur ( Uttarkashi), Banswada, Almora and Champawat so that supplies of compact feed blocks and silage are maintained during the natural disaster.
The minister disclosed that the state government is planning to roll out new projects in the field of animal husbandry for employment generation amongst youth especially women. These schemes would provide livelihood opportunities to the landless and marginal farmers and help in stopping migration from the hills. He said that the state government has decided to launch Chief Minister Uttarakhand State Livelihood Mission (CMUSLM) with an investment of Rs 244.22 crore. This scheme would provide direct employment to 9768 entrepreneurs and indirect employment to 10000 persons in the field of animal husbandry in the next five years. The Cooperative and Dairy Development secretary BVRC Purushottam and other officers of the department were present on the occasion.
