Track 3-6-1: Public‐Private Partnership in Managing Common Property Resources
Description
Total area available for grazing in the country is about 40% of the land area. Pasture lands constitute the main grazing resources of the country, available over an area of 12 million ha (3.94% of the geographical area). An idea of the meager fodder availability can be had from the fact that about 50% of the cattle population, depending largely upon free rangeland grazing in forests, pastures, village commons and the like, end up getting only about 1.5 kg of dry fodder/ day/ ACU (Adult Cattle Unit) as against the healthy fodder requirement norm of 3% body weight. The grasslands and pastures not only form the major source of forage for the livestock but also provide habitat to a large variety of wild animals and birds and are home to a myriad species of plants, many of which are ‘threatened’. Any further degradation of these habitats is likely to put many more species under threat. Hills and mountains are distributed all over the country covering 29 states. Constraints which are responsible for the low production of fodder in hill states can be broadly grouped in agro ecosystem constraints, management constraints and social and policy constraints. The major strategies to raise the fodder production could be sustainable management of fodder producing ecosystems, improvement in fodder productivity, expansion of area under fodder sources, improvement in cattle, system management: and policies. The fodder cultivation and management in this region has been always neglected, though livestock rearing is an important occupation of farmers in the area (Bisht et al., 2009). Therefore in the present study several management techniques for the improvement and enhancing the fodder productivity natural grassland and wasteland have been studied.
Included in
Enhancing the Productivity of Grassland and Wasteland through Management in Hills
Total area available for grazing in the country is about 40% of the land area. Pasture lands constitute the main grazing resources of the country, available over an area of 12 million ha (3.94% of the geographical area). An idea of the meager fodder availability can be had from the fact that about 50% of the cattle population, depending largely upon free rangeland grazing in forests, pastures, village commons and the like, end up getting only about 1.5 kg of dry fodder/ day/ ACU (Adult Cattle Unit) as against the healthy fodder requirement norm of 3% body weight. The grasslands and pastures not only form the major source of forage for the livestock but also provide habitat to a large variety of wild animals and birds and are home to a myriad species of plants, many of which are ‘threatened’. Any further degradation of these habitats is likely to put many more species under threat. Hills and mountains are distributed all over the country covering 29 states. Constraints which are responsible for the low production of fodder in hill states can be broadly grouped in agro ecosystem constraints, management constraints and social and policy constraints. The major strategies to raise the fodder production could be sustainable management of fodder producing ecosystems, improvement in fodder productivity, expansion of area under fodder sources, improvement in cattle, system management: and policies. The fodder cultivation and management in this region has been always neglected, though livestock rearing is an important occupation of farmers in the area (Bisht et al., 2009). Therefore in the present study several management techniques for the improvement and enhancing the fodder productivity natural grassland and wasteland have been studied.
