Stray cattle menace down by 5 per cent in seven years: Minister

The stray cattle menace has seen a 5 per cent decline in the country between 2012 and 2019.

Quoting livestock census of 2012 and 2019, Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the number of stray cattle (both rural and urban) was 50.21 lakh in 2019 against 52.87 lakh in 2012.

Of the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs), there was a decline in the number of stray cattle in 11 states and UTs. These include Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

The number of stray cattle came down to zero in 2019 from 1,029 and 280 in 2012 in UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

Farm Laws

To a query on whether the Punjab government had submitted any objection against framing of the three farm laws when consultations were being done with the Government between 2017 and 2020, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said the Government felt the need to reform the agricultural marketing sector so as to ensure better and competitive price realisation to the farmers and encourage capital formation in the sector.

In pursuance of the same, various committees/task force were constituted for recommending several market reform measures. These included Expert Committee in December 2000, under the Chairmanship of Shankarlal Guru; the ‘Inter-Ministerial Task Force’ constituted in July 2001; Empowered Committee of 10 state ministers in-charge of Agriculture Marketing in 2010; and Working Group of Agriculture Production in May 2010.

“The Working Group of Agriculture Production constituted by the Ministry of Agriculture in May 2010 under the Chairmanship of the then Chief Minister of Haryana, with the then Chief Ministers of Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar as members gave their recommendations that the market for agricultural produce must be immediately freed of all sorts of restrictions on movement, trading, stocking, finance and exports. The Committee recommended that no monopoly, including that of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) or corporate licensees, should be allowed to restrict the market,” he said in the reply.

The draft of the Ordinances had been circulated to various ministries/departments; NITI Aayog for their comments. State governments were also consulted through videoconferencing on May 21 2020, which was attended by the officials of various states/ UTs, including Punjab, to obtain feedback on new legal framework facilitating barrier free inter-State and intra-state trade in agriculture produce to provide choice to farmers, he said.

Edible oil mission

To another query on the implementation of National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm to increase the production of oilseeds in the country, Tomar said the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) was launched in 2014-15 and subsumed with National Food Security Mission (NFSM) as NFSM (OS and OP) from 2018-19.

The production of oilseeds which was 275 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2014-15 increased to 365.7 lt in 2020-21 as per the third advance estimates. Similarly, the area under oilseeds cultivation increased from 256 lakh hectares in 2014-15 to 288 lakh hectares in 2020-21 as per the third advance estimate.

For NFSM (oilseeds), interventions such as purchase of breeder seeds, production of certified seeds, distribution of certified seeds, plant protection equipment and chemicals, distribution of gypsum/ pyrite/lime/single super phosphate, nuclear poly hydrosis virus, supply of improved farm implements, sprinkler sets, pipes for carrying water from source to the field, integrated pest management, farmers, officers and extension workers training are undertaken. Newly released high yielding varieties of oilseeds are also distributed through the mini-kit programmes to the farmers.

Paddy stubble

To another query on the steps taken to make farmers aware about the new low-cost capsule developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) that can convert the paddy stubble into bio-manure, Tomar said multiple efforts have been made to demonstrate the new low-cost capsule -- Pusa Decomposer Technology -- developed by IARI for crop residue management across the country.

He said Pusa Decomposer was provided for 5,730 hectare area in the country during 2020. This included Uttar Pradesh (3,700 ha), Punjab (200 ha) and Delhi (800 ha).

In-situ application of Pusa decomposer on paddy residue was demonstrated at farmers’ fields in several villages of Punjab and Haryana.

To another query on the major priority areas for the Government for developing agriculture in the next 10 years, Tomar said the strategies outlined in the National Sustainable Agriculture Mission Document aim at promoting sustainable agriculture through a series of adaptation measures focusing on 10 key dimensions. These include improved crop seeds, livestock and fish culture, water use efficiency, pest management, improved farm practices, nutrient management, agricultural insurance, credit support, markets, access to information, and livelihood diversification.

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