05 Jan Quality seed standards of forage crops in India
भारत में चारा फसलों के बीज गुणवत्ता मानक Agriculture accounts for 54.6% of total employment in India and contributes 15.2% of total GDP. Livestock occupies a crucial position in Indian agriculture and directly contributing 27% of agricultural GDP. India, with 2.29% of the world land area, is maintaining about 10.71% of world’s livestock population. The number of milch animals have increased from 62 million in 2000 to 83.15 million in 2012 resulting in 4.04% year-on-year growth rate of milk. Thus, to sustain this growth rate and for further expansion to meet the demands of ever growing human population, livestock needs sustainable supply of feed material. The area under fodder cultivation is estimated to be about 4% of the gross cropped area which remained static for the last four decades. The traditional grazing lands are gradually diminishing because of urbanization, expansion of cultivable area, grazing pressure and industrialization etc. These factors resulted in severe shortage of feed and fodder to the extent of 26% in dry-crop residues, 35.6% in green fodder and 41% of concentrates. To reduce the demand and supply gap, the production and productivity of fodder crops needs to be enhanced. The horizontal expansion of cultivable area under fodder crops is difficult due to severe competition from food crops. Apart...