Forage supply in Rajasthan- a regional analysis

Abstract

The structural changes taking place in the livestock population in the state of Rajasthan indicated that farmers make need based adjustments in the herd composition of animals maintained on the farm. The share of cattle population has come down from 37.89 percent in 1951 to 22.2 percent in 2003 and that of buffalo has gone up from 10.53 percent in 1951 to 21.18 percent in 2003. The rapid and intensive mechanization-taking place in agriculture seems to have adversely affected the draught animal power use in agriculture, which in turn resulted in the decline of draught animals in the state from 7.6 lakh in 1983 to 5 lakh in 2003.There is a revealed preference for buffalo and goat in the state, which may be attributable to the increased demand for milk and acceptance of milk production as an important risk minimizing economic activity in rural areas of the state. The absence of systematic database for forage production in the state is a major bottleneck to devise strategies for sustainable development of livestock sector in the state. The results of this study amply reveal wide gap in the demand and supply of forage in the state. Only two districts, namely Jaisalmer and Sirohi were found having surplus forage production. The forage production through all sources has been more than three fourth of the requirement in districts like Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Churu, Ganganager, Kota and Hanumangarh. The high grazing pressure (animals/unit area) or the low grazing intensity (land/animal) is also a matter of great concern. Grazing pressure measured as adult cattle units per hectare of grazing land comes to 6.14 in Alwar, 8.93 in Bharatpur, 5.82 in Dausa, 10.90 in Hanumangarh, 5.22 in Jhunjhunu and 4.66 in Sikar. The grazing pressure is more where fodder supply is short of its demand. This situation is likely to adversely affect the sustainable development of livestock sector in the state unless fodder security measure are initiated.