Forage Production in India: Bottlenecks and Opportunities by Opening up New Way with an Increase in Fodder Oats Demand: A Review

Abstract

In India, mixed farming and cattle raising is an essential elements of rural life and these practices are connected with the social structure in cultural, religious and economic ways. India’s production of fodder is very unevenly distributed and how this resource is used depends on the breed of cattle raised, the climate, the socioeconomic context and the crop-growing patterns. Fodder from cultivated regions is regularly fed to cattle and buffalo, with some harvested grasses and top feeds added as supplements. On the other hand within the land area of just 2.3 per cent, India is home to 16.8 per cent of the world’s population and nearly 20 per cent of the world’s cattle. India homes cattle (16%), buffalo (55%), goats (20%) and sheep (5%) of worlds total livestock population respectively. This fact makes it more cumbersome to meet the forage demand by livestock, thus shift in paradigm and opportunity in near future is about to hike for fodder crops with their potentiality in production per unit area. The present Indian scenario of fodder crops in comparison with the livestock population is being described in this article along with the net deficit and surplus availability of green and dry fodder. Further, this review also includes the opening of a new way for oats to contribute to fodder production. The challenges facing India for fodder production and its near opportunity to open up and evolve with various methodologies to tackle the present fodder demand by enhancing the production is described in detail in an article.