1.75% rural households earn major income from livestock

Less than 2 per cent of the rural households earn major portion of their income from self employment in livestock farming, says a government survey.

“Around 1.75 per cent of the total rural households derived the major income from self-employment in livestock farming, which comprises around 2.7 million rural households, owning around 0.489 hectare of land per household,” according to NSSO survey conducted in January-December 2013.

As per the survey, among all the land used for animal farming, the major use was made for dairy (53.8 per cent during Jul-Dec’12 and 69.7 per cent during Jan-Jun’13). The lowest share was for piggery, which is less than 1 per cent of the total area under animal farming, during both the seasons.

The survey showed that around 0.75 per cent of the total ST households, 1.50 per cent of the total SC households, 2.17 per cent of the total OBC households, and 1.67 per cent of the total households belonging to others reported the major income from self-employment in livestock farming. As much as 3.67 per cent of the households owning large holdings (more than 10 hectares) were found to have derived major income from self-employment in livestock farming, which is the highest among all ownership land holding class.

The least (0.70 per cent) was recorded for the households owning small holdings (1 to 2 hectares). The percentage of households reporting animal farming was found to be the highest in the marginal category of operational holdings, registering more than 73 per cent of household operational holdings in both the periods. The land area used for livestock farming (i.e. land used for only farming of animal/fishery and both crop production and farming of animal/fishery) is less than 5 per cent of the total area under different types of land uses. 

It said that the bovine population during 2012-13 was 204.5 million, out of which 135.6 million were cattle and 68.8 million were buffalo.