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Livestock based Livelihood & Environment in Saurashtra and Kutch region

Year of publication 2005

Pages 15

Author LEAD Advocacy Network Project, Gujarat State, CEE, Ahmedabad;Animal Production and Health Division

Publisher LEAD Advocacy Network Project, Gujarat State CEE, Ahmedabad ;

Product type Document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Livestock production is the traditional and one of the important sources of livelihood of farmers in India. The increasing contribution of livestock in poverty reduction is very well recognised, especially in the semi-arid and arid regions of India where crop farming has limited possibility. India has 20% of world’s livestock population. India’s livestock population of 450 million large and small animals depends on a very meagre area for green fodder. The large livestock population has put tremendous pressure on the land available. Farmers mainly make use of common property resources to feed their animals. Demographic pressure contributes to conversion of grazing areas into croplands and has accelerated degradation of many grazing areas. Though crops leave straw and weeds after harvest, the crop encroachment disrupts pastoral areas, causing artificial grazing pressure. Trees, usable for browsing, are cut to clear fields. In the absence of appropriate mitigation schemes, the p ressure on the environment further increases, rendering land more vulnerable to weather effects. Rapid depletion of natural resources, especially common property resources, partly due to growing human and livestock population and partly due to adoption of non-sustainable practices, have seriously affected the poor, marginalized and landless people, especially women, who have depended on these resources for their livestock and their own livelihood. The increased demand for animal protein ( livestock revolution) enhanced the demand on natural resources.

Language English

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