TWO YEARS after the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying proposed the formation and promotion of fodder-centric Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to deal with the fodder deficit, the federal government has designated the Nationwide Dairy Growth Board (NDDB) because the implementing company, setting a goal of 100 such FPOs in 2022-23.
In its order on November 4, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare mentioned: “The competent authority within the Division of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has authorised to designate NDDB as implementing company beneath the scheme of formation and promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to kind and promote FPOs, primarily fodder centric, and animal husbandry actions as a secondary exercise (fodder plus mannequin)… NDDB has been assigned to kind 100 FPOs throughout 2022-23 inside the contours of the scheme pointers.”
This comes a month after The Indian Categorical reported that the Wholesale Worth Index-based fodder inflation soared to a nine-year excessive of 25.5 per cent in August 2022 and highlighted the hardships confronted by rural households whose livelihoods are depending on livestock. The studies, printed in two elements on October 3 and 4, additionally highlighted how the federal government’s plan to create 100 fodder FPOs, beneath its bold scheme of organising 10,000 FPOs, had remained on paper.
On October 6, Animal Husbandry Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh chaired a gathering to take inventory of the fodder state of affairs within the nation, through which the states knowledgeable the Centre that the costs of dry fodder have been considerably increased as in comparison with final yr. The assembly was attended by senior central authorities officers, together with these from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and representatives of not less than 14 states – Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The thought of organising fodder-centric FPOs was first mooted by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 2020, with the goal to deal with the fodder deficit state of affairs within the nation.
The excessive fodder inflation has a direct affect on rural livelihoods. In response to the Nationwide Statistical Workplace report, ‘State of affairs Evaluation of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019’, 48.5 per cent of the full 17.24 crore rural households (or an estimated 8.37 crore) reported proudly owning cattle ‘in milk’, younger cattle and cattle in ‘others’ class throughout July-December 2018. Additional, 43.8 per cent of the full 9.3 crore agricultural households used inexperienced fodder, 52.4 per cent dry fodder, 30.4 per cent concentrates, and 12.5 per cent different animal feed throughout the interval.