Centre mulls balanced diet for livestock

Will expand its ration-balancing programme to offset climate change

To counter the ill-effects of climate change from livestock and cattle, the Centre is working on expanding its ration-balancing programme to ensure cattle get the right diet.

This, officials said, would not only help in lowering the enteric methane emission from cattle by as much as 20-30 per cent, but will also help in increasing milk content and enable growers to get maximum yield from livestock.

In sheep, for example, research has shown that using leaves of a particular tropical tree at an appropriate level with ragi led to a 20-25 per cent drop in methane emission. The ration-balancing programme is already on with the help of the National Diary Development Board (NDDB), but the same is now being planned to be expanded to cover more areas and enrol more farmers. "We plan to extensively use the media and all other available sources to popularise the programme to ensure that methane emission from livestock is brought down considerably," Union Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain told Business Standard.

The programme is part of the Centre's multi-pronged strategy to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from the agriculture sector. Punjab and Haryana, where burning of straw in fields is most rampant, has already imposed fines, while other states might soon follow suit.

Agriculture contributes to around 17.6 per cent of the total GHG emitted from India, of which 18 per cent comes from paddy cultivation, 23 per cent from soil management and 56 per cent from livestock.

Presently, most farmers feed their animals based on traditional knowledge and prevailing practices like oil cakes, seasonally available green fodder. However, it has been found that the quantity of nutrients fed to the cattle is either less or more than required, which not only impacts milk production, but impacts their fertility.

Officials said it has been found that a balanced diet fed to animals leads to a 15-25 per cent increase in net daily income for growers per animal.

Studies done by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and other institutes on the long-term impact of climate change on the country's agriculture showed that in the coming years, it could also pull down the country's milk yield by 1.8 million tonnes per year by 2020 and the maximum impact would be on livestock numbers in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Studies have also shown that per hectare productivity of rice in India might go down by 4-10 per cent in irrigated areas and 2.5-6 per cent in rainfed areas by 2020-2080.

Similarly, wheat yields might drop by 6-23 per cent by 2050 and 15-25 per cent by 2080 due to adverse impacts of climate change.

HERD INSTINCT

• Agriculture contributes to around 17.6% of the total GHG emitted from India, of which 18% comes from paddy cultivation, 23% from soil management and 56% from ruminants
   
• A balanced diet fed to livestock leads to a 15-25% increase in net daily income for growers per animal
   
• This would not only help in lowering the enteric methane emission from cattle by as much as 20-30%, but will also help in increasing milk content and enable growers to get maximum yield from livestock