Title : Assessing the Policy and Institutional

Framework to Facilitate the

Development of an Integrated Grazing

Policy for Sustainable Forest

Management in India

Host Government : Government of India

Name of the Executing

Agency

: Winrock International India

Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... i

1. Project Identification ...................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Context ............................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Origin and problem ............................................................................................ 2

2. Project Objectives and Implementation Strategy ........................................................... 5

3. Project Performance (Project elements planned and implemented) .............................. 9

4. Project Outcome, Target Beneficiaries Involvement ................................................... 10

5. Assessment and Analysis ............................................................................................. 12

6. Lessons Learned........................................................................................................... 13

7. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................ 14

ANNEXES

Annexure 1: Project financial statement

Annexure 2: Project cash flow statement

Abbreviations

CPR Common Property Resources

FD Forest Departments

FDAs Forest Development Agencies

ICAR Indian Council of Agricultural Research

ICFRE Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education

IGFRI Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institutes

JFM Joint Forest Management

MOEF Ministry of Environment and Forests

NTFPs Non Timber Forest Products

RUPFOR Resource Unit for Participatory Forestry

SFM Sustainable Forest Management

WII Winrock International India

i

Executive Summary

Forests play an important role in meeting the daily requirements of many livestock rearers in

our country. Poverty, large and expanding human and livestock populations put incessant

pressure on the forests of India. The consequence is severe degradation of the country‟s

forest resources. The problem owes largely to the fact that with about 2.5% of the world‟s

geographical area and 1.8% of the forest area, the country at present is supporting 16% of

the world‟s population and 18% of the domestic cattle population, amounting to about 500

million (National Forest Commission Report, 2006).

In the absence of sufficient productive pasturelands and a grazing policy, forests have

become the major source of grazing and fodder. It is estimated that around 60% of the

livestock (about 270 million) graze in forests. These include traditional sedentary village

livestock and migratory animals herded by ethnic grazers. Additionally, about 250 million

tons of green fodder is harvested manually by lopping branches and harvesting grasses.

Local people, who often have limited rights, have little incentive to use the forest in a

sustainable way. Consequently, large areas of legally designated forest lands are being

degraded (IIPA, 1994).

Village lands, forest lands and common access lands play a major role in shaping the life of

forest dependent communities. These lands have always acted as a source of fuel wood,

biomass, fodder and grazing land for livestock. While the extent of forest land available for

this purpose is rather ambiguous, the extent of exploitation of common property resources

and common access lands has been very heavy and often beyond their carrying capacity.

The various concerned departments run schemes at their individual levels which are

completely independent of each other and do not reflect a coordinated effort. So far there

has been a conventional pattern of disconnection between various line departments and

traditional livestock dependent communities and their practices which include either lack of

or duplication of work, poor communications, lack of synergy and shortsighted symptomatic

solutions with little outcomes. The need of the hour, therefore, is dove-tailing micro-level

concerns with the ones of macro-level.

Considering the change in the forest management issues and context in the last few

decades and overgrazing being one of the many reasons contributing to forest degradation;

it is considered that a holistic policy on integrated grazing and livestock management is

warranted in the near future, which is inclusive in its approach and based on sound

ecological principles.

ii

A pre-project was undertaken to initiate a study on the issues related to the grazing and

fodder development in seven states of India. Seven states divided into three agro-climatic

clusters had been studied in this regard.

The objective of the pre project was as follows:

“To assess relevant sectoral policies and programs (e.g. forest, animal husbandry,

and agriculture) using an inclusive process of stakeholders’ engagement, leading to

the development of a comprehensive project proposal on integrated fodder and

grazing management”.

To fulfill the objective the following activities have been undertaken:

To identify the data source and to document the existing grazing practices in the seven

states of India

To undertake the field visit in the selected states for meeting the stakeholders both the

primary and secondary stakeholders

To organize consultation meeting at the local level

To identify and to document the best grazing management practices

To analyze the existing policy and programs related to grazing and fodder

management

To organize national level consultation workshop

The detailed report regarding each of the activities has been submitted separately. Based on

the preliminary research undertaken and the consultative process adopted as part of this

pre-project, a number of issues came up which needs to be studied in detail and analyzed in

the next phase of the project to formulate the guidelines of the national policy of grazing and

fodder management in the country. There are mainly four kinds of grazing practices in India.

These are:

Local Grazing: The livestock are being reared in the grazing lands closer to the village

areas; this is an old practice of grazing when the common grazing lands were used for

this purpose.

Intra-State Grazing: The livestock are made to travel in the areas within the state; this is

primarily done in the states where fodder availability is not uniform.

Inter-State Grazing: The livestock migrate from one state to another to meet the

requirement of fodder. This is practiced primarily in states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and

Madhya Pradesh.

Himalayan Grazing: The summer-winter migratory grazing is practiced in the Himalayan

states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir. Here, the entire family

migrates with the livestock to Alpine pasture in summer to meet the fodder requirements.

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The Outcome and the recommendations of the study were as follows:

A detailed proposal needs to be developed to undertake a study covering all the important

geo-climate zones in India since the grazing and fodder management policy would be

drafted at the national level. The consensus in the National workshop in the pre project

stage was that instead of considering individual states to study these issues, four clusters of

states that share similar problems related to grazing and livestock management, fodder

production and similar agro-climatic conditions should be taken as the target clusters for the

next phase of the project. This would enable peer-to-peer learning and experience sharing

within and in between each of these clusters. The proposed clusters of states for this phase

of study are:

Cluster I: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu

Cluster II: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

Cluster III: Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Cluster IV: West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa

To draft the guidelines for the national policy on grazing and fodder management, all the

present realities and challenges of the forest resource management, rural livelihood pattern,

green fodder raising, livestock management and macroeconomic scenario of India will have

to be taken into consideration. The policy formulation is a complex task since a number of

factors as divergent as the geomorphology, social practices, religious beliefs and even food

habits of the people of India have made the objective a complex problem to solve.

Therefore, a number of studies have to be carried out in the next phase by involving different

research institutes like Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institutes (IGFRI), Jhansi.

The local level issues of grazing needs to be analyzed by involving various local level NGOs

working in the grass root levels. Existing grazing policies and regulations prevalent in the

selected states needs to be reviewed and meeting with concerned Ministries, officers and

other stakeholders will have to be arranged to get their opinion on issues of grazing and

livestock management in the selected states. All these findings will be compiled while

drafting the guidelines of the „Integrated Grazing Policy of India‟.

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1. PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

1.1 Context

The pre-project was undertaken for assessment of grazing and livestock-related

issues in seven states of India located in seven agro-ecological zones covering

approximately 1/5th of the total forest cover/area of the country and 30% of the total

livestock population. The States selected are Assam (Eastern Himalayan Region),

Uttar Pradesh (Upper Gangetic Plains Region), Himachal Pradesh (Western

Himalayan Region), Orissa (Eastern Plateau and Hills Region), Madhya Pradesh

(Central Plateau and Hills Region), Andhra Pradesh (Southern Plateau and Hills

Region) and Rajasthan (Western Dry Region). Attempts were made to ensure the

representativeness of the regions in terms of livestock population, forest area,

communities exclusively dependent on livestock for their livelihoods and grazing

related issues, to name a few. At the pre-project stage attempts had been made to

address the issues of missing baseline information for states. Attempts also had

been made to bring together all the interest groups that normally didn‟t interact on a

cross-cutting theme like those of livestock and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas,

explore mechanisms of enhancing the engagement of the various stakeholders for

collaborative problem solving.

Relevant Sectoral Policies

Several sets of policies, Acts and Rules enacted by the Government of India and the

State Government have been in place, which inter-alia address the issue of grazing

vis-à-vis forest management. For instance, National Forest Policy 1988, Tribal Act

2006, the draft National Policy for Farmers (April 2006), 11th Planning

Commission report on agriculture/forests sector have all in one way or the other

underscored the importance and role of forests and common property resources in

meeting the livelihood requirements of the rural population, particularly those who live

in around the forested landscapes and by virtue of their geographical location are

poor and marginalized with little choices.

Taking cognizance of this reality, the various Acts by the Ministry of Environment and

Forests (Forest Act 1927, Forest Conservation Act 1980) have enshrined the

traditional access rights “nistar rights” giving grazing and minor forest collection rights

to rural residents in forests classified as protected and even in the remaining forests

classified as reserved or unclassified but within the individual Gram Sabha territory.

Also, one of the basic objectives of the National Forest Policy 1998, (which led to the

formulation of the National Forestry Action Programme (NFAP) is to ensure people‟s

participation in forest management at the same time meeting the requirements of

fodder as along other minor forest products and small timber of the rural and tribal

2

population by involving them in the day-to-day management of the forests through

Joint Forest Management (JFM). In the 10th five-year plan (2002-2007) constitution

of Forest Development Agencies (FDAs) was envisaged for facilitating the

preparation and implementation of micro-plans towards meeting the fodder and fuel-

wood needs of the people under the various afforestation programmes. Concurrently,

wasteland development through various watershed programmes has all emphasized

on development of fodder resources. The Livestock vision documents of States like

Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and even the 11th Planning Commission

Report (2007-2012) emphasizes on fodder and feed development for the welfare of

forests and livestock dependent communities.

1.2 Origin and problem

India is one of the major tropical timber producing countries in the world and forests

are the second largest land use in India after agriculture. The dependence on forests

is evident from the fact that out of approximately 580,000 villages in India, 170,000

constitutes around 15% of the 1 billion populations, reside around the forest fringes.

Forests are hence crucial in supporting the lives and livelihoods of millions of the

rural population as they provide many valuable non-timber forest products including

fodder. Much of the recent debate about forestry and development emphasizes on

the sustainable forest management principles, wherein the needs of the present

generation, are met without compromising the needs of the future. Even the United

Nations Forum on Forests articulates the role of forests in reducing poverty (MGD1).

The role of forests in maintaining ecological balance, environmental stability and

sustainable economic development is well acknowledged, however the cause of

concern off late is the increasing biotic pressure and degraded forest resources on

account of unsustainable practices such as land diversion for non forestry purposes,

fire, illicit felling and pressures from agro-pastoral activities. The issue of

regeneration and productivity of forests is of serious concern. Though the overall

forest cover of India has increased as per the 2007 assessment by FAO1, but

preliminary survey reports of the government however, suggest that there has been

an increase in the open forest areas and decrease in the dense cover forests. For

instance, as per the 2001 and 2003 assessment by Forest Survey of India, the open

forests have increased by 11.8%2 and dense cover forests have reduced by 2.62

million hectares to a total 39. 0 million ha, which corresponds to a loss at the rate

6.2% in two years.

The problem owes largely to the fact that with about 2.5% of the world‟s geographical

1 This has been largely because of plantations on both private and government lands. State of the World’s Forest 2007, FAO

Available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0773e/a0773e03.pdf 2 State of the Forest Report 2005. Availabe at: http://www.fsi.nic.in/sfr_2005.htm

3

area and 1.8% of the forest area, the country at present is supporting 16% of the

world‟s population and 18% of the domestic cattle population, amounting to about

500 million3 (National Forest Commission Report, 2006). In the absence of adequate

productive pasturelands and a grazing policy, forests have become the major source

of grazing and fodder. It is estimated that around 60% of the livestock (about 270

million) graze in forests. These include traditional sedentary village livestock and

migratory animals herded by ethnic graziers. Additionally, about 250 million tonnes of

green fodder is harvested manually, by lopping branches and harvesting grasses.

The disappearance of the village commons, Common Pool Resources (CPRs) has

further exerted pressures on reserved forests.

Conservative estimates suggest that about one third of cut fodder requirement comes

from forests and it is surprising that most of the State Forest Departments are not

working in tandem with other relevant agencies like the State Animal Husbandry

Department and Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute to develop silvo-

pastoral systems that are nutritionally of high quality and productivity. So far there

has been a predictable pattern of disconnection between various line departments

and traditional livestock dependent communities and their practices; some of these

include either lack or duplication of work, poor communications, lack of synergy and

short-sighted symptomatic solutions with little outcomes. The need of the hour

therefore, is dove-tailing of micro-level concerns with the ones of macro-level.

Winrock International India (WII) has been working to promote sustainable forest

management (SFM) practices in India for the last ten years. WII houses a Resource

Unit for Participatory Forestry (RUPFOR), which is officially recognized by the

Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as the support unit to the Forest

Protection Division of the MOEF. It provides substantive and administrative support

to the Ministry to monitor and evaluate the Joint Forest Management programme of

the Government of India. As part of RUPFOR, several consultations were organized

to facilitate interactions between stakeholders like the Forest Department, Civil

Society, and field implementers on issues related to sustainable forest management.

Lack of an integrated approach to grazing both at the macro (policy) and micro (field)

level emerged as one of the primary concerns for both the policy makers and the field

implementers. Moreover, studies on different aspects of SFM conducted by WII also

revealed the need for an integrated approach to grazing management.

3 The National Forest Commisssion Report. Available at: http://envfor.nic.in/divisions/1-8.pdf

4

Problems to be addressed

Grazing is the most important source of fodder for both the large and small

ruminants. Most grazing (those of cattle, sheep and goat comprising 76% of the total

livestock population) even today takes place in forest areas, non-arable lands, along

streams, roads, permanent pastures and grazing areas, and land under

miscellaneous tree crops and groves. It is estimated that more than half of the poor

households in India depend on these CPRs for meeting their feed and fodder

requirement.

Table 1: Use of Common Pool Resources

Particulars Units

Households reporting grazing on common pool resources 20%

Households possessing livestock 56%

Households collecting fodder from common pool resources 13%

Households cultivating fodder on common pool resources 2%

Average quantity of fodder collected (365 days) 275 kg

Source: NSSO (54th Round) 1999.

Instances of success stories of fodder cultivation have been sporadic and there has

been no mainstreaming of various government schemes which in some way or the

other positively or negatively impact the livestock, livestock owners or the natural

resource on which they are dependent. Degradation of fodder value in many places

has led many of these livestock rearers to increase the number of livestock to

compensate for the decrease in per capita productivity from livestock resulting in

overgrazing and further degradation of forest areas4. The interest of the animal

husbandry department of increasing meat and milk products to meet to the growing

demand is not in tandem with forest conservation objectives to ensure productivity,

ecosystem services, forest health and vitality, as forests still continues to be the one

of major source of fodder. Moreover, the information base on this cross-cutting issue

is very weak as well as institutional-level partnerships that can hold the key to

address many of the issues plaguing the sector hardly exists. There is a multiplicity

of statistics, often arbitrary sometimes that can hardly be put to meaningful use.

At the departmental/institutional level some of the areas of incongruence include:

Forest department with their various afforestation programmes, community

forestry and social forestry have focused on developing plantations of non-

fodder/non-brows able species, with the explicit objective of enhancing the

4 Report from the Multi-stakeholder workshops on restoring balance between livestock-based livelihoods and natural

resources, July 2007

5

biomass and forest cover. The ban on grazing in forest lands in some States is

leading to local level conflicts and distress.

The recent upsurge in biofuel plantations on wastelands and fallow lands are

further reducing the already depleting CPRs.

Similarly, the department for rural development through their watershed

programmes to some extent was able to complement the fodder production

through their soil and moisture conservation works, but reports suggests that the

focus is on fodder species that mostly meet the requirements of the large

ruminants.

Weak or isolated traditional social institutions coupled with the elite capture of

some of the local level institutions (e.g., watershed protection committees) are

defeating the very purpose of their establishment.

All this is leading to distress, lack of support and cooperation and conflicts between

many of the stakeholders. All over the country today there is growing resistance by

poor livestock rearers to “regeneration programmes” that are forcing them off the

land and forcing them out of their livelihood. The scant forage production due to

depleted and degraded common pool resources, lack of efficient fodder and feed

production mechanism, livestock-environment conflicts on the ground all indicate the

stark reality of forests and the livestock sector, which warrants immediate attention.

However, the core problems of unsustainable management of forests are varied viz.

fire, illicit felling, encroachments, over-grazing, inadequate management etc. Like for

other issues, the causes of over-grazing are many. The pre-project was proposed to

undertake assessment of grazing and livestock-related issues in seven states of

India located in seven agro-ecological zones (indicated as above).

It was envisaged that various consultation workshops with the livestock rearers,

pastoralist groups, government departments (Forests, Animal Husbandry,

Agriculture, Rural Development, Panchayats), NGOs etc. were expected to create

the necessary conditions to articulate their concerns and identify areas where work

can be done together for optimal solutions to the identified problems.

2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

2.1 Development Objective

The development objective of the pre-project was to “contribute towards sustainable

forest management by promoting integrated grazing management practices that are

socially acceptable and ecologically sound”.

6

2.2 Specific Objective

The specific objective of the pre-project was to:

“Assess relevant sectoral policies and program (e.g. forest, animal husbandry, and

agriculture) using an inclusive process of stakeholders engagement, leading to the

development of a comprehensive project proposal on integrated fodder and grazing

management.”

2.3 Implementation Strategy

The assessment of a need for a grazing policy which was the focus area of this pre

project involved both primary and secondary research. The secondary research

involved data collection from sources like published papers, reports, studies, surveys,

books and the internet. This gave an insight about the problem scenario in various

parts of the country with statistical data to substantiate it. This helped to form a

background before moving ahead with the field visits. The context that was built

through the secondary data analysis helped develop a better understanding of

ground level realities.

The primary research involved interactions and consultations with the concerned

ministries / departments (i.e. Environment and Forests, Animal Husbandry,

Agriculture and Rural Development) at the national level. This was followed by

interactions with the state level counterparts and field level discussions with local

officials and community leaders. This stratified consultative approach helped the

team to gain an overall insight of grazing management and fodder development

issues. In addition a review of relevant policies and programs was undertaken to

identify opportunities and gaps that could facilitate the development of an integrated

national grazing policy for the country.

To achieve the objectives of the pre-project the following activities have been

undertaken.

Project Team Meetings

Monthly project team meetings were held to review the progress made, discuss

issues and approaches, and to plan for activities that need to be undertaken. Minutes

of these meetings have been prepared to help keep track of the discussions and so

that at a later stage it would be possible to document the process followed for

developing the project proposal.

Identification of Data Sources

Simultaneously efforts were made to identify key stakeholders and sources of data

and information at the national, regional and state levels. These included:

7

Government departments (Forests, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Rural

Development, Panchayati Raj, Statistics)

Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)

Planning Commission of India

MOEF Regional Centres

National research institutes ( e.g. IGFRI & ICAR)

Civil Society Organisations

Community Institutions

From these various sources data and information were collected on relevant policies

and programs at the national and state levels, and official statistical data that would

help understand the dynamics between „supply‟ and „demand‟ of fodder and its

impacts.

Policy and program documents related to the following collected:

Livestock management

Forest management

Management of agricultural lands

Fodder production

Research papers

These documents were reviewed and analyzed and facilitated the preparation of the

Policy and Program Analysis Report which was Output 1 of this pre-project.

Official statistical data covering a time series was collected to the extent available

at the national level and for each of the seven selected States for the following

parameters:

Land use change over time:

Forest area

Agricultural area & cropping patterns

Pasture lands

Land under mining / other major land use changes

Livestock

Changes in livestock populations

Fodder production (dry / green)

Survival diets for productive and unproductive livestock

These data tables are provided in the final technical report which had been

submitted. The State level data was used to initiate and drive discussions with key

stakeholders in each of the States.

8

Development of a Survey Tool

In each of the seven selected States it was decided to collect data from relevant

departments i.e. Forests, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Rural Development at

the State and district levels and to incorporate the perspectives of local communities

by interacting with select Gram Panchayats. A survey tool was prepared to facilitate

the data / information collection process in each of the selected States. The survey

tool covered both quantitative as well as qualitative aspects.

State Visits

A total of seven selected States have been visited by the pre-project team. These are

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal

Pradesh, and Assam. These states lie in the seven agro-ecological zones of the

country and thus, provide different situational case studies for a broader

understanding of a national level scenario. The objectives of making these state visits

were to:

Collect additional policy / program documents and reports

Collect relevant statistical data

Interact with the range of stakeholders using the designed questionnaires

Identify and document best practices as case studies

In each of the states meetings were organized at the state level with the Principal

Chief Conservator of Forests and other senior forest officers, and Directors and other

senior officers from the departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Rural

Development. At the district level the project team interacted with the Divisional

Forest Officers and Range Officers, officers from the allied line departments

mentioned above and with representatives of Gram Panchayats at the community

level. The separate reports for each of these states have been prepared and already

been submitted to MOEF and ITTO. These reports had been circulated to the key

and relevant stakeholders in the corresponding states and will be used for further

discussions and for developing action plans in the next phase of the project.

Preparation of Policy and Program Analysis Report

Relevant policy and program documents collected at the National and State levels

were reviewed and analyzed. The review attempted to identify policy and

programmatic opportunities and gaps that could be leveraged or those that would

need to be addressed in order to develop an integrated grazing policy for the country.

A copy of this report had already been submitted to MOEF and ITTO.

9

Documentation of Good Grazing Management Practices

Based on field visits made to the selected States and the review of published

documents, a compilation of select case studies that reflect good grazing

management practices was prepared. From each of these cases relevant lessons

were drawn that could be used for replication in other parts of the country in the long

run. This report on good grazing management practices in India was Output 2 of this

pre-project and had been submitted to MOEF and ITTO along with the policy report.

3. PROJECT PERFORMANCE (PROJECT ELEMENTS PLANNED AND

IMPLEMENTED)

Realized performance vs. planned performances

Specific objectives:

“Assess relevant sectoral policies and program (e.g. forest, animal husbandry, and

agriculture) using an inclusive process of stakeholders engagement, leading to the

development of a comprehensive project proposal on integrated fodder and grazing

management.”

Output & related activities:

As appearing in Project document:

For achieving the pre-project objectives, the activities envisaged in it helped in

the assessment of various policies and programmes of the government, both at

the national as well as the State levels and the areas of policy overlaps was

found out along with the anomalies that in a way was facilitative or restrictive as

far as implementation of it is concerned, from the light of livelihood needs and

conservation goals. It was believed that lack of reliable and adequate information

for planning and management is one of the many reasons that result in “silo-

mode” of functioning by various departments. Attempts had been made to bring

the major stakeholders on a common platform and the issues raised through

dialogue and debate by them in the national consultation workshop had been

included in the next phase project proposal.

The outputs of the pre project contributed towards formulating a detailed project

proposal that would assist in the development of an integrated grazing policy in

the long run, a policy which is long due and whose time has come. The output of

the pre-project according to the project document was:

Development of a comprehensive project proposal on integrated grazing and

fodder management policy in India

10

Added or omitted during implementation:

Winrock International India, the implementing agency of the pre- project focused

on the project outputs planned for the pre- project and followed the activities

strictly according to the work plan.

The output of the project was to develop a comprehensive project proposal on

facilitating the development of the integrated grazing and fodder management

policy in India. The proposal has been developed and submitted to Ministry of

Environment and Forests, Government of India in mid June, 2011 for further

submission to ITTO.

Schedule:

Starting date : 1st November 2009

Duration : One year

Total amount of expenditures:

USD 71,507 $

Analysis of applied input: The fund was spent according to the budget. The details

of the expenditure have been given in the statement of expenditure attached in the

Annexure I.

4. PROJECT OUTCOME, TARGET BENEFICIARIES INVOLVEMENT

4.1 Project Outcome

While implementing the project in the field and undertaking all the activities

mentioned above a number of outcome have been achieved which helped to design

the comprehensive project proposal. The national level consultation was one of the

activities which have been undertaken at the end of the project. Through the

deliberation of the different stakeholders a number of discussion points and

recommendations came out which was the integral part of the project as well. The

outcomes of the project therefore were as follows:

There has been a consensus from all corners of the policy makers and the

other stakeholders to encourage artificial insemination for promoting improved

breeds and over time reduce the numbers of unproductive livestock which could

in the long run solve the problem of over grazing and degradation in the forests.

The productive livestock should be provided to the local communities and their

capacity also needs to be built for managing these productive livestock.

The Animal Husbandry and the Forest Departments need to coordinate their

activities; especially in villages which lie in or around forest areas. Both these

11

departments would need to develop coordinated and integrated plans and

programs for better management of forests as well as livestock. There is also a

need to avoid developing and implementing conflicting programs. For example,

in one forest fringe area the Animal Husbandry department provided local

communities with goats. Since goats need to graze, their introduction in the

area led to the degradation of the surrounding forest lands. This also highlights

the need for a coordinated and integrated approach for development in general.

In order to effectively protect forests there is a need to reduce the dependence

of forest fringe communities on forests. This can be achieved if the fodder

development programs that the Rural Development and Animal Husbandry

departments implement help to meet the needs of local communities from other

lands i.e. private, revenue and Panchayat lands

Rotational grazing and participatory management of forest lands have been

effectively realized as part of the JFM program in different pockets of the

country. Lessons from these experiences need to be more widely disseminated

and adopted. Over almost two decades the JFM program has established

institutional mechanisms for the protection of forests. These mechanisms can

be further leveraged to include improved grazing management practices as well

as alternative systems of fodder production

Involving JFM Committees and Panchayats in implementing grazing

management practices could make these a lot more effective. Developing

alternative sources of fodder production is imperative which could also be done

through the JFMCs

Implementing and inculcating effective grazing management practices in

different parts of the country would be difficult if it is not undertaken in a

coordinated manner.

4.2 Target Beneficiaries Involvement

The beneficiaries of the pre-project mainly were all the stakeholders working on

issues of forest management, poverty alleviation and livestock development (such as

department of forests, animal husbandry, agriculture, rural development, Panchayats,

NGOs etc.). They were mostly involved in the multi-stakeholder process whereby

possible synergies are likely to emerge to enable them to carry forward their

institutional mandates but with a holistic approach.

However, the target beneficiaries of the pre-project was largely the poor and

marginalized communities who keep livestock as one of their livelihood strategy and

are dependent on forests for their subsistence needs. Though their involvement was

limited to the small meeting and consultations with the project team but they would

be benefitted effectively more in the long run once the comprehensive project would

12

be implemented in the fourteen selected states of India and the grazing and fodder

management policy would be in place.

5. ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS

India has the largest number of people below poverty level in the world, many of

whom depend directly or indirectly on forests for a living. Poverty, as well as large

and expanding human and livestock population, put unrelenting pressure on the

forests of India. The consequence is severe degradation of the country‟s forest

resources. Considering the change in the forest management issues and context in

the last few decades and overgrazing being one of the many reasons contributing to

forest degradation; it is considered that a holistic policy on integrated grazing and

livestock management is warranted in near future, which is inclusive in approach and

based on sound ecological principles as well. The purpose of the pre- project was to

know the status of the ground situation as well as to know about the programs and

policies implemented by different government organizations on grazing management

in different states of the country.

The pre-project had been done successfully and due care had been given on the

field activities as well as organizing consultation workshops. These local level

consultation workshops and national level meetings was very successful in terms of

participation of the stakeholders from the different corners of the selected states,

quality of the discussions on addressing the issues of grazing and fodder

management in the current context in different states of India.

As far as the implementation strategy and the specific objective were concerned,

there was no deviation from the planned one.

On the basis of the different discussions taken place in different states a consensus

had come out for sustainable management of the natural resources and livestock of

the country. An urgent need was felt for developing a national policy on integrated

grazing and fodder management of India which would in the long run address to the

following:

development of an appropriate system for managing un-economic livestock in

the country

resist illegal encroachment of the common property resources (CPR)

develop an integrated mechanism of grazing and fodder management all

through the country

regulate nomadic grazing

develop improved mechanism for pasture land management and improved

livestock management in the country

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increase in awareness amongst the communities about grazing and fodder

development

A number of lessons had been learnt through different exercises in the pre-project

phase which had already been taken into account while developing the

comprehensive project proposal.

The sustainability of the pre-project is dependent on the successful implementation of

the next phase of the project. The proposal for the next phase of the project had

already been submitted to Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India

for further submission to ITTO.

6. LESSONS LEARNED

The pre-project was implemented to know the ground situation as far as the grazing

and fodder management is concerned in the selected states of India. Through the

implementation of the pre-project a number of issues had been revealed which was

the learning from the project.

Through the five case studies in the selected states it had been revealed that grazing

management remains somewhat of a neglected issue in India but there are some

examples of systems that have been developed to address it. The lessons from

these cases are summarized below:

An integrated approach that focuses on livelihood and on-farm income

generation activities can be effectively leveraged to address issues of fodder

scarcity and improved grazing management

By actively involving local communities and linking protection and regulation

measures directly to their income and livelihoods, it is possible to curb the

degradation caused by open access grazing

In several parts of the country there have existed traditional and effective

systems for managing grazing and these can be leveraged and adapted to

develop „new‟ such systems

Social mobilization, development of local institutions and collective action can

lead to improved land husbandry, increased availability of fodder for local

communities and the development and application of effective management

systems

The existing JFM set up could be used as an institutional arm to promote

improved grazing management practices in the country. However, it must also

be noted that these committees with only support from the forest department

might not be very effective. The support in terms of allied fodder development

and improved land husbandry programs from the agriculture, animal husbandry

and rural development departments would also be necessary

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Collective action with adequate support from the government can effectively

tackle the adverse impacts of grazing and ensuring a sustainable of fodder for

the livestock of local communities

Provision of access to credit and land resources to local institutions such as

SHGs can facilitate the process of fodder development and management

These lessons had been kept in mind while preparing for the comprehensive project

proposal for developing the integrated grazing and fodder management policy for

government of India and also would be used while implementation of the project in

the next phase.

7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A number of recommendations came out through different consultation process in the

local and state level as well as in the national level consultation meeting. Some of

these recommendations are as follows:

For the effective management of CPRs the sense of ownership amongst local

communities needs to be devolved and recognized

Institutional mechanisms for the management of CPRs are a critical

component. Established Joint Forest Management Committees provide a

platform on which these could be built

There is a need to develop core funds for CPR management by the local

communities [JFM institutions/panchayat level]. These funds would enable the

local communities to continue managing their natural resources, including

CPRs, once specific departmental interventions come to an end. For example,

community level levies on fodder, fuel-wood, Non Timber Forest Products

[NTFPs] collected from CPRs could be put into this core fund.

The involvement of local communities in developing suitable solutions to the

problems created by fodder scarcity and mismanaged grazing is critical.

Interactive and iterative regional consultations are needed first in order to

provide local communities with an opportunity to present their concerns, needs

and points of view

It is apparent that the local stakeholders need to be involved in the process of

development of sustainable grazing management from the very beginning to

ensure their approval and commitment. From the experience in Madhya

Pradesh it was revealed that developing grazing rules by excluding local

communities or prevent them from using certain lands for grazing their livestock

without prior consultations with them was not socially acceptable, and remained

ineffective. Therefore, along with the grazing management through locally

acceptable institutional mechanisms it is imperative to develop alternative

15

systems for the additional production of green fodder as part of agricultural

activities or through silvi – pasture development in community lands.

Appropriate systems for managing unproductive cattle / livestock need to be

defined and implemented

Changes in crop type, use of agricultural residue, and increasing mechanization

of agriculture are all contributing to the scarcity of fodder

A better understanding on changing land use patterns and the various social,

environmental and economic impacts that this is having in different regions of

the country needs to be developed. Towards this end, strategic studies need to

be undertaken

Research institutes need to be involved to determine the carrying capacities of

forests and pasturelands in different regions of the country and to accordingly

prescribe the grazing pressure that can be sustainably exerted in each of these

areas

Conclusion & Way Forward

Through the consultation processes an urgent need was felt for development of joint

action (through appropriate policies, plans and programs) amongst the Animal

Husbandry, Rural Development, Agriculture and Forest Departments both at the

central and state levels. To achieve this objective the District Development

Committee, the State Planning Boards and finally the Planning Commission at the

Government of India level need to be sensitized and involved in planning of such

integrated projects for ensuring sustainable grazing and fodder management for

protection of CPRs.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests [MOEF] at Government of India and the

Forest Departments [FD] at the state level will have to serve as the nodal

organization to initiate and carry forward the process of formulation and

implementation of the integrated grazing and fodder development policy. The

Planning Commission, Government of India and state planning boards will have to be

closely involved in the process of developing and implementing this integrated

grazing management policy and the follow up development programmes in the

country. It would not only facilitate the integration process but will also provide

programmatic and policy directions as well as financial allocations for this initiative.

16

Annexure 1:

Project Financial Statement

17

18

Annexure 2:

Project Cash Flow Statement

19

20

Project number : PTD 142/08 Rev. 1 (F)

Starting date of the Project : November 1, 2009

Duration of the Project (month) : 12 months

Project costs (US $) : US $ 71, 507

The ordinal number and type of

the Report (e.g. Project

Completion Report)

: Project Completion Report

Project technical and scientific

staff - names of Project

Coordinator and of main staff

: Dr. Kinsuk Mitra

Ms. Gitika Goswami

Implementing institutions: full

name, address, telephone, fax and

e-mail

: Winrock International India (WII)

788 Udyog Vihar, Phase V

Gurgaon – 122 001, Haryana

Tel: 0124 430 3866

Fax: 0124 430 3862

Email: gitika@winrockindia.org

The place and date the report was

issued

: Delhi, September 8, 2011