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NEWS ALERTS | Livestock supports livelihood of the land poor
Livestock supports livelihood of the land poor

Livestock supports livelihood of the land poor

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published Published on Dec 28, 2014   modified Modified on May 9, 2016

Animals, which are used for food, fibre, labour etc. hold a special place in ensuring rural livelihoods. It has been found by the NSSO's 70th Round Report that among the agricultural households having less than 0.01 hectare land (which includes landless agricultural households too), a little above 1/5th reported livestock as their principal source of income whereas 56.4% depended on wage/ salaried employment. However, as the land size went up, dependence on cultivation grew at the expense of declining reliance on livestock.

Among the agricultural households having 0.01 to 0.40 hectare land, nearly 5% reported livestock as their principal source of income. For the subsequent size-classes of land possessed, the percentage of agricultural households reporting livestock as their principal source of income stayed around 2.5% although this figure went up to nearly 5.5% for households having more than 10 hectares of land.

It must be mentioned here that in rural areas, the marginal land owners (i.e. possessing 0.002 to 1.0 hectare of land) constituted nearly 3/4th of total rural households whereas the landless category (having land less than or equal 0.002 hectare) constituted 7.4% of the total rural households. From the NSSO report one finds that for the landless and marginal agricultural households, average monthly income was lesser than the average monthly consumption expenditure during July 2012- June 2013.

Based on a nation wide survey conducted in 4,529 villages during 2 visits, the NSSO report entitled Key Indicators of Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India shows that as a whole nearly 4% of agricultural households were dependent on livestock as principal source of income during July, 2012 - June, 2013 (See chart 1).



In states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, more than 9% of agricultural households reported livestock as their principal source of income.

Out of the average monthly income of the agricultural households (Rs. 6426/-) during the agricultural year July, 2012 - June, 2013, about 12% was derived from livestock (Rs. 763/-) while the majority (48%) was received from cultivation (Rs. 3081/-) (See chart 2).



Among agricultural households having less than 0.01 hectares of land, farming of animals (Rs. 1181/-) brought more average monthly income than cultivation (Rs. 30/-) during July, 2012 - June, 2013. 

At the national level, estimated average monthly expenditure for farming of animals was Rs. 1388/- and average monthly receipts for the same was Rs. 2604/- during the period July, 2012 - June, 2013.

The average monthly expenses for farming of animals per agricultural household varied from Rs. 283/- in Jharkhand to Rs. 3561/- in Punjab in July, 2012 - June, 2013. Similarly, the average monthly receipts for farming of animals per agricultural household varied from Rs. 426/- in Chhattisgarh to Rs. 9511/- in Arunachal Pradesh in the same period.

The NSS 70th Round report on Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households informs us that with the rise in size of land possessed, there was increase in the average expense for farming of animals per agricultural household. However, average receipt for farming of animals per agricultural household also improved with the rise in size of land possessed. This shows that agricultural households having greater land size invested more on farming of animals so as to incur greater returns (see chart 3).



A second NSSO 70th Round Report entitled Key Indicators of Land and Livestock Holdings in India states that 1.00% - 1.80% area of land was used for livestock farming whereas the majority of land was used for crop production. Among the land used for animal farming (i.e., dairy, poultry/ duckery, piggery, fishery and farming of other animals), the major use of land was made in dairy.

The estimated number of bovine livestock (i.e cattle plus buffalo) decreased during the 70th NSSO Round (204 million) in 2012-13 as compared to the previous livestock survey in the 59th NSSO Round (230 million) in 2002-03. It is worth mentioning that as compared to the 18th Livestock Census in 2007, bovine population declined by 1.6% during the 19th Livestock Census in 2012.

The estimated population of sheep & goat in the 70th NSSO Round was about 99 million, up from 95 million in the 59th NSSO Round. The population of poultry birds has been estimated at 255 million during the year 2012-13, which was 182 million in 2002-03.

References:

Key Indicators of Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India (January - December 2013), NSS 70th Round, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GoI, December 2014 (Please click here to access)

Key Indicators of Land and Livestock Holdings in India, NSSO 70th Round (published in December 2014), Report no. NSS KI (70/18.1), MoSPI, GoI, December 2014,

Please click link1 and link 2

19th Livestock Census-2012 (published in 2014), Ministry of Agriculture (Please click here to access)
       
Image Courtesy: Shambhu Ghatak


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