Organic Livestock Husbandry -Perspectives in Developing Countries

Organic Agriculture (OA) is rapidly expanding world over including in India. To meet growing demand for organic products, farmers need to be exposed and trained on organic farming methods through suitable interventions including research efforts, thus, this study was aimed towards filling the vacuum in the area of organic farming research,especially on livestock. The Majority of the registered organic farmers were middle aged having secondary education belonging to small sized nuclear families, with 4-22 yrs of farming experience in general & 3-6 years experience in organic farming, mostly owning land less than 1ha and 2-5 livestock like cattle,goats, poultry. Their low input & welfare oriented animal husbandry practices were very close to the practices prescribed under organic standards, thus, ideal for conversion to organic livestock production system through appropriate training, resources and marketing support as being provided to organic crop production in Uttarakhand state of India. The Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UOCB) had apparantly played pivotal role in motivating farmers towards diversifying agricultural activities using Organic agricultural practices.