SCHEME FOR PROCUREMENT OF CATTLE DUNG FROM FARMERS            

 

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Context

• The Standing Committee on Agriculture asked the Centre to launch a scheme for procurement of cattle dung from farmers.

 

Findings 

• Farmers practicing organic farming have milch animals / cattles. However, under PKVY, cow dung is not being procured for composting by the states.
• The country’s organic / natural farming coverage remains poor despite abundant indegenous resources.
• Out of 140.1 million hectares (ha) net sown area, only 0.409 million ha is under natural farming in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• Only 2.7 per cent of the total sown area was under organic f

 

Recommendations

• The Committee recommended initiating a scheme for procurement of cattle dung from farmers in coordination with the department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
• It reiterated that procuring cattle dung directly from the farmers will not only augment their income and provide employment opportunities but also address the problem of stray cattle and promote organic farming in the country, as the country has a vast cattle population.

 

Vital Stats India has the largest cattle inventory followed by Brazil and the United States of America. As per the World Cattle Inventory Ranking of Countries in 2020. Roughly 65 per cent of the world’s cattle are in India, Brazil and the USA. India accounts for almost 31 per cent of the total animal population, to be precise 30.70 per cent. The total Livestock population is 535.78 million in the country showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census2012 as per the 20th Livestock Census, 2019 report released by Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

 

Way Ahead

• The time has come to shift our focus from lab experiments to land.
• In this, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, agricultural universities and Indian Council of Agricultural Research can help to take natural farming to more and more farmers.
• The government is planning to make a network of labs which will give certification for organic products and farmers’ land, that in turn will help farmers adopt organic farming to get a better market for their products.
• The Government needs to lay down a comprehensive scheme for procurement of cow dung in the lines of the Godhan Nyay Yojana — Chhattisgarh government’s cow dung procurement scheme.
• As the Central government wants to double the income of farmers by 2022 besides other supplementary programs, such cow dung procurement scheme could be handy in meeting the national target.

 

Case Study: Learning from Chattisgarh

Godhan Nyay Yojana Godhan Nyay Yojana is the scheme recently launched in 2020, by Chhattisgarh. This scheme aims at boosting the rural economy by procuring cow dung at Rs 2 per kilogram from farmers and cattle rearers initially in the rural area later in the urban area too. After procuring the cow dung, the government would get the procured cow dung turned into vermicompost by Women Self-Help Group (WSHG) and later the organic manure would be sold to the farmer at Rs 8 per kilogram, encouraging organic fertilizer and discouraging chemical one. Besides preparing organic manure, the dung would be used to prepare various other useful items such as Diya (clay lamp), flower vase, idols, bags and invitation card etc. These activities will attract investment and innovation in the rural area that would lead to economic well-being. The income from such procurement schemes will supplement and complement the agriculture income of the farmer and cattle owner. It will also prevent the practice of open grazing of cattle and accident on the road due to stray animals. Animal husbandry would be hugely boosted and organic fertilizer would be encouraged as it would be easily available at an affordable price at the local level, resulting in huge economic profit for the forming community.

 

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/india-s-natural-farming-push-obvious-measures-ignored-points-out-standing-committee-80736