Special Livestock Sector Package

Q Why is it in News ?

A The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved implementation of a special livestock sector package.

Q What are some key details about the special livestock sector package? 

A 

• It aims to boost growth in the livestock sector and thereby making animal husbandry more remunerative to 10 crore farmers engaged in Animal Husbandry Sector.
• The Central government will spend Rs. 9,800 crore on livestock development over the next five years in a bid to leverage almost Rs. 55,000 crore of outside investment into the sector.
  • It includes the share of investments by State Governments, State Cooperatives, Financial institutions, External funding agencies and other stakeholders.

Q How will the scheme be implemented ? 

A 

• The package has been designed by revising and realigning various components of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying’ Schemes for the next five years, starting 2021-22.
• All the schemes of the Department will be merged into three broad categories as:
  • Development Programmes: It includes 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.
  • Disease Control Programme: It is renamed as Livestock Health and Disease Control (LH & DC) which includes the present Livestock Health and Disease Control (LH & DC) scheme and National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP).
  • Infrastructure Development Fund: The Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development fund (AHIDF) and the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) are merged and the present scheme for support to Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations engaged in Dairy activities is also included in this third category.

Q What will be impact of this package ? 

A 

• The Rashtriya Gokul Mission will help in development and conservation of indigenous breeds and would also contribute in improving the economic condition of the rural poor.
• The National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) scheme is targeted towards installation of about 8900 bulk milk coolers, thus providing benefit to more than 8 lakh milk producers and 20 LLPD (Lakh Litres Per Day) milk will be additionally procured.
  • Under NPDD, financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be available thus strengthening and creating fresh infrastructure in 4500 villages.

Q What is present state of Animal Husbandry in India ? 

A 

• Animal Husbandry in India:
• A large number of farmers depend upon animal husbandry for their livelihood. It supports the livelihood of almost 55% of the rural population.
• As per the Economic Survey-2021, the contribution of Livestock in total agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32% (2014-15) to 28.63% (2018-19).
• India is the highest livestock owner of the world.
  • As per the 20th Livestock Census, the total Livestock population is 535.78 million in the country showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012.

Q What are some key details about National Livestock Mission ? 

A 

  National Livestock Mission (NLM)

• NlM was launched in the 2014-15 financial year and seeks to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders.
• The scheme is being implemented as a sub scheme of White Revolution - Rashtriya Pashudhan Vikas Yojana from April 2019.
• The mission is organised into the following four Sub - Missions:
  • Sub -Mission on Livestock Development.
  • Sub - Mission on Pig Development in North-Eastern Region.
  • Sub - Mission on Feed and Fodder Development.
  • Sub -Mission on Skill Development, Technology Transfer and Extension.