Not Available

Not AvailableI ndia has a large livestock population and projections indicate that to feed this large livestock population by the year 2020 India would require 526 million tonnes (MT) of dry fodder, 855 MT of green fodder, and 56 MT of concentrate feed. On the other hand land allocation for cultivation of fodder crops in India is only 5 per cent of the gross cropped area and India has a long history of shortage of fodder for livestock. This is one of the main contributing factors for the low productivity of Indian livestock. The critical role of trees and shrubs in livestock production has been well recognized in India. Tree leaves, fruits, pods, twigs etc., are traditionally used for feeding livestock especially goats. In arid and semi arid regions of the country tree fodder is an important feed resource or the only feed resource available for livestock. It is in this scenario that to alleviate the existing fodder shortage, to create fodder banks for the future, to overcome problems associated with deforestation and mitigate climate change the concept of integrating fodder trees in agricultural land, wasteland, community land and pastures is gaining momentum. Various agroforestry models are there suiting different needs. Livestock integration is possible only in certain models.Not Availabl