Potential of wastelands for mixed farming system in India Dixit A. K.1,*, Singh M. K.1, Reddy B. S.2, Manohar N. S.3 1Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura- 281122, Uttar Pradesh, India 2College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi-585287, Yadgir district, Karnataka, India 3Navsari Agriculture University, Dist. Navsari, Gujarat, India *Corresponding author email: akdixit@cirg.res.in
Online published on 16 February, 2013. Abstract The paper presents estimated potential of wasteland for biomass production from selected categories i.e., underutilized/degraded forest (scrub dominated), under-utilized/degraded forest (agriculture), degraded pastures/grazing land and degraded land under plantation crops. A mathematical model was developed to estimate wastelands potential for green fodder production. These categories of wastelands account for 23% of total area under wastelands (47 million ha) of the country. Study estimated that at national level, selected categories of wastelands have potential to produce 16 million tonnes of green fodder, an additional quantity other than cultivated green fodder and grass from grazing area. The selected categories of wastelands in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have potential to produce more than 50% of total fodder production from wastelands. With scarce information on potential of wastelands in terms of fodder production, these estimates can serve an important input into policy making particularly wastelands development programmes in different parts of the country. Top Keywords Fodder potential, Fodder yield, Wastelands. Top |