July 19, 2022
Indian minister calls for consideration of converting agricultural waste into animal feed
India's Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala, recently urged entrepreneurs at a meeting in New Delhi to explore possibilities of converting agricultural waste into animal feed.
He expressed concern over the rise in the cost of animal feed in the last few years and conveyed a need to rethink about the food security of animals and prepare programmes to ensure it.
Meanwhile, Parshottam's ministry had organised a conference to launch the ₹150,000 million Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF). The fund seeks to incentivise investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSMEs and Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) to set up dairy and meat processing capacities, and animal feed plants as well as implementing breed improvement.
One of the key elements of the AHIDF scheme is the Credit Guarantee Scheme for nimal Husbandry and Dairying, which is managed by NABSanrakshan Trustee, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Parshottam also highlighted that FCI warehouses are filled with food grains and asserted that there is a need to prepare a programme to maintain the same level of feed security for animals. He added that the sector can contribute immensely to help meet the objective of doubling farmers' income.
The animal husbandry ministry is also aggressively working to provide Farmer Credit Cards to animal husbandry farmers. In fact, the Indian government has given much attention to this sector in the last eight years, including the setting up a dedicated ministry to promote developmental activities in animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
The ministry is part of the National Advisory Committee for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sector to recommend, prescribe and advise policies relating to cattle and dairy development, feed and fodder, poultry, piggery, sheep, and animal health.
- Dr. Dinesh Bhosale
