Livestock and fodder production: A potential source of livelihood for Bihar region

Abstract

Changes in food consumption habits, related to economic development, and combined with changing demographics, are contributing to increased demand in for livestock products all over the world. Livestock sector plays an important role in employment and income opportunities for the rural people of Bihar. In particular, Bihar is known for its high production of milk from cattle, buffalo and goat, making the livestock sector one of the major sectors with the potential to help in accomplishing the state's development goals. The contribution of livestock sector of Bihar is about 5 percent to total state GDP or GSDP, but this is lower than other predominantly agricultural states such as West Bengal. Inadequate fodder supply is one of the main constraints of livestock production in Bihar. The various reasons contributing to inadequate fodder supply are fragmentation of land, lack of infrastructure and storage house, monsoon dependent agriculture, frequent occurrence of floods and various technological constrains. Filling the wide gap between the demand and supply of fodder becomes the urgent need of the present scenario. This paper presents the various constraints related to livestock and fodder production in Bihar and also deals with the possible mitigation measures to lessen the gap between demand and supply of fodder as well as to improve livestock production.