1.75% rural families derive major income from livestock: NSSO

New Delhi: Less than 2 percent of the rural households earn major portion of their income from self employment in livestock farming, says a government survey.

"Around 1.75 percent of the total rural households derived the major income from self-employment in livestock farming, which comprises around 2.7 million rural households, owning around 0.489 hectare of land per household," according to NSSO survey conducted in January-December 2013.

As per the survey, among all the land used for animal farming, the major use was made for dairy (53.8 per cent during Jul-Dec'12 and 69.7 percent during Jan-Jun'13).

The lowest share was for piggery, which is less than 1 percent of the total area under animal farming, during both the seasons.

The survey showed that around 0.75 percent of the total ST households, 1.50 percent of the total SC households, 2.17 percent of the total OBC households, and 1.67 percent of the total households belonging to others reported the major income from self-employment in livestock farming.

As much as 3.67 percent of the households owning large holdings (more than 10 hectares) were found to have derived major income from self-employment in livestock farming, which is the highest among all ownership land holding class.

The least (0.70 percent) was recorded for the households owning small holdings (1 to 2 hectares).

The percentage of households reporting animal farming was found to be the highest in the marginal category of operational holdings, registering more than 73 percent of household operational holdings in both the periods.

The land area used for livestock farming (i.E. Land used for only farming of animal/fishery and both crop production and farming of animal/fishery) is less than 5 percent of the total area under different types of land uses.

It said that the bovine population during 2012-13 was 204.5 million, out of which 135.6 million were cattle and 68.8 million were buffalo.

During 2012-13, sheep and goat (ovine) population were found to be 99 million. The number of ovine per 100 households was 63.4.

It further said that 5.8 million pigs were estimated during 2012-13, accounting for 3.7 per 100 households.

During 2012-13, 254.7 million poultry was estimated, which was found to be 163.1 per 100 households.

This report is based on the information on livestock ownership of the households collected during the Land and Livestock Holdings Survey (LHS) conducted in the 70th round of NSS during January 2013 to December 2013.

The Survey was conducted only in the rural areas of the country, and covered 4,529 FSUs (sample villages).