Niti Aayog working on gaushala economy to address stray cattle issue, says its member

PTI

New Delhi, April 14

Keen on improving the gaushala (cow shelter) economy, government think-tank Niti Aayog is working on a roadmap to enable commercial use of cow dung for multiple purposes, and resolve various issues connected with stray cows which often become liability for farmers, its member Ramesh Chand has said.

The Aayog has also asked economic think tank NCAER to prepare a report on the economics of gaushalas to ensure its commercial viability.

“We are just looking at what are the possibilities to improve the gaushala economy...We are looking at the possibility that can we have some value created or value addition for the by-products, which is cow dung,” he told PTI.

A team of government officials under Chand has visited big gaushalas in Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh), Rajasthan and other parts of India to assess their conditions.

He pointed out that maybe 10 per cent or 15 per cent of cows give a small quantity of milk but that is not enough to cover labour, fodder and treatment costs.

“Cow dung can be used to make Bio-CNG...So we are looking at those kinds of possibilities,” Chand, who oversees farm policies at the government think tank said.

Menace of stray cattle, abandoned by their owners, had become a major talking point in the Uttar Pradesh elections.

The NITI Aayog member highlighted the advantage of producing bio-CNG from cow dung.

“So rather than it (gas) damaging the environment, we will use it as energy which will give returns also,” he argued.

The eminent agriculture economist observed that leaving unwanted cattle in the open is also harmful for crops. “That’s why we are working on the gaushala economy,” he asserted.

According to the National Dairy Development Board, India had 192.5 million cattle in 2019 and 109.9 million buffaloes, taking the total bovine population to 302.3 million.

Asked whether India has anything to learn from Sri Lanka, whose organic farming push aggravated the island country’s economic and political crisis, Chand said Sri Lanka just decided to go for it (organic farming) for the whole country and it just said that fertiliser import etc will not be there.

“In the case of India, whenever we come with any initiative (about organic farming), you know it will happen gradually,” he said.

While noting that right now because India has some surplus in food, Chand said: “We can try it (organic farming or natural farming) gradually on a small scale.”