latest agricultural techniques. It induces women to actively participate in raising agricultural productivity and family income. At a Farm Women’s Group in Thiruchirapalli, run by Anthoniammal, trained women are successfully making and selling vermicompost and earning money from this venture. Many other Farm Women’s Groups are creating savings in their group by functioning like mini banks through a micro-credit system.
With the accumulated savings, they promote small-scale household activities like mushroom cultivation, soap manufacture, doll making or other income- generating activities. Chart . : Distribution of Poultry and Livestock in India, followed by others. Other animals which include camels, asses, horses, ponies and mules are in the lowest rung.
India had about million cattle, including million buffaloes, in . Performance of the Indian dairy sector over the last three decades has been quite impressive. Milk production in the country has increased by more than five times between - . This can be attributed mainly to the successful implementation of ‘Operation Flood’.
It is a system whereby all the farmers can pool their milk produced according to different grading (based on quality) and the same is processed and marketed to urban centres through cooperatives. In this system the farmers are assured of a fair price and income from the supply of milk to urban markets. As pointed out earlier Gujarat state is held as a success story in the efficient implementation of milk cooperatives which has been emulated by many states. Meat, eggs, wool and other by- products are also emerging as important productive sectors for diversification.
Fisheries: The fishing community regards the water body as ‘mother’ or ‘provider’. The water bodies consisting of sea, oceans, rivers, lakes, natural aquatic ponds, streams etc. are, therefore, an integral and life-giving source for the fishing community. In India, after progressive increase in budgetary allocations and introduction of new technologies in fisheries and aquaculture, the development of fisheries has come a long way.
Presently, fish production from inland sources contributes about per cent to the total fish production and the balance per cent comes from the marine sector (sea and