Government releases Rs 119.5 crore for fodder production

NEW DELHI: The centre has released Rs 119.5 crore so far to 12 states in the current financial year for increasing production of fodder to keep livestock healthy.

The fund has been made available under Accelerated Fodder Development Programme ( AFDP), an official statement said.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had in his budget speech for 2011-12 proposed to provide Rs 300 crore for AFDP programme which will benefit farmers in 25,000 villages. The scheme is part of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Giving break-up of funds released to the states, the statement said Rajasthan has been provided the maximum of Rs 22.50 crore.

Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been given Rs 15 crore each while the same for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar was 12.5 crore each, the statement added.

The programme envisages accelerating production of fodder through promotion of integrated technologies and processes for enhancing the availability of fodder throughout the year.

It proposes a multi-pronged strategy to achieve the stated objectives.

India, with 2.3 per cent share of global geographical area, supports nearly 20 per cent of the livestock population of the world and therefore requires a steady supply of fodder for supporting the huge livestock population.

Only 4 per cent of total cropping area is under fodder cultivation.

It has resulted in a severe deficit of green fodder (36 per cent), dry fodder (40 per cent) and concentrates (57 per cent).

The scheme aims at bridging this shortfall in demand for fodder from crop residues and agricultural bi-products.