Parliament Question: Income of Small Dairy and Fish Farmers in Assam

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 5216 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24th MARCH 2026 INCOME OF SMALL DAIRY AND FISH FARMERS IN ASSAM 5216. MD. RAKIBUL HUSSAIN: Will the Minister of FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING मत्स्यपालन, पशुपालन और डेयरी मंत्री be pleased to State: (a) whether the Government has initiated any measures to enhance the income of small dairy and fish farmers in Assam; (b) the average annual income of such farmers as per the latest survey conducted by the Government in this regard; (c) whether any credit linkage or insurance coverage is available to such farmers; and (d) the details of schemes extended to ensure income stability and risk mitigation for such farmers? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING (SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH) (a) to (d) In order to complement the efforts made by the State and Union Territories to enhance the income of small dairy farmers, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India is implementing following programmes in the country including Assam: 1. Rashtriya Gokul Mission is implemented with focus on development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds, genetic upgradation of bovine population and enhancement of milk production and productivity of bovines thereby making milk production more remunerative to the farmers. Rashtriya Gokul Mission is leading to increase in population of high yielding animals of bovines including indigenous breeds of cattle and buffalo. Under Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme 23.09 lakh artificial insemination performed covering 17.64 lakh animals and 14.84 lakh dairy farmers in Assam. 2. National Livestock Mission (NLM) aims to create employment generation, entrepreneurship development, increase in per-animal productivity and thus targeting increased production of meat, goat milk, egg and wool under the umbrella scheme Development Programme. The scheme envisages following three submissions: (i) Sub-Mission on Breed Development of Livestock and Poultry; (ii) Sub-Mission on Feed and Fodder Development and (iii) Sub-Mission on Innovation and Extension.The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India is implementing Livestock Insurance under National Livestock Mission to provide protection mechanism to the farmers & livestock owners against any eventual loss of their animals due to death. The farmer’s share of premium payment has been reduced to 15% from 20-50% depending upon the caste and region of settlement. The rest 85% will be shared by the Central and State share in the ratio 60:40 for states other than Himalayan and North-eastern region and 90:10 for the Himalayan and North-Eastern region. During the last four years (2021-22 to 2024-25) and current financial years (2025-26) of the implementation of the Livestock Insurance, Government of India has released a sum of Rs.158.79 crore for coverage of 68.64 lakh animals including Assam. 3. Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) is implemented to facilitate incentivisation of investments to establish (i) Dairy processing and product diversification infrastructure, (ii) Meat processing and product diversification infrastructure and (iii) Animal Feed Plant (iv) Breed Improvement Technology and Breed Multiplication Farm, (v) Veterinary Vaccine and Drugs production facilities, (vi) Animal waste to wealth management (Agri-waste Management). Keeping in view of the success of AHIDF, the erstwhile Dairy Processing Infrastructure Development Fund has been subsumed with the AHIDF on 01.02.2024. Now total size of the fund is Rs 29110 cr. The scheme has following main features: (i) Interest Subvention of 3% payable up to 8 years with no ceiling on credit; (ii) Loan up to 90% from lending organizations (All scheduled Banks/ NCDC/ NDDB/ NABARD/SIDBI) and (iii) Credit Guarantee Fund (Rs. 750 Cr.) for MSME and Dairy Cooperatives up to 25% of credit facility. Till date 13 projects have been approved for Assam with the project cost of Rs 285.86 crore 4. National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) is implemented with following 2 components: (i) Component ''A'' of NPDD focuses on creating/strengthening of infrastructure for quality milk testing equipment as well as primary chilling facilities for State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union/ Self Help Groups (SHGs)/ Milk Producer Companies/ Farmer Producer Organizations. Under NPDD scheme, 6 projects have been approved in Assam with the total project cost of Rs. 11932.16 lakh including Central share of Rs. 9820.87 lakh and out of this an amount of Rs.2689.78 lakh has been released till 19.03.2026. The benefit of the scheme is accruing to all the dairy farmers of the State. (ii) Component ''B'' of the NPDD Scheme "Dairying through Cooperatives” aims to increase sale of milk and dairy products by increasing farmer’s access to organized market, upgrading dairy processing facilities and marketing infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of producer owned institutions. 5. Supporting Dairy Cooperatives & Farmer Producer Organisations engaged in dairy activities (SDCFPO): To assist the State Dairy Cooperative Federations by providing interest subvention (regular 2% and additional 2% on prompt repayment) with respect to soft working capital loan to tide over the crisis on account of severely adverse market conditions or natural calamities. 6. Kisan Credit Card (KCC) provide working capital loan to Animal Husbandry and Dairy farmers. Interest Subvention of 1.5% to the banks and Prompt Repayment Incentive of 3% tothe farmers are provided up to Rs.2 lakh on working capital requirement towards animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries activities against KCC cards under the “Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS)” of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. This helps dairy farmers to invest in better-quality feed, veterinary care, and advanced breeding techniques. As on 31.03.2025, in Assam 13,448 KCC accounts for Animal Husbandry are operational with an outstanding amount of Rs 193.24 Cr. 7. Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP) is implemented to provide for prophylactic vaccination against animal diseases, capacity building of veterinary services, disease surveillance, and strengthening veterinary infrastructure. Also, a new component of Pashu Aushadhi is added under the scheme ensure availability of affordable generic veterinary medicines across the country through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PM-KSK) and Cooperative Societies. This will create an ecosystem for Generic Medicines which will be affordable and of good quality. So far, in Assam 2.66 crore vaccinations performed against FMD benefitting 23.96 lakh dairy farmers and 3.48 lakh vaccinations performed against Brucellosis benefitting 2.39 lakh dairy farmers. The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has been implementing various schemes and programmes—namely the (i) Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF), (ii) the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), and (iii) the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Samridhi Sah Yojana (PM-MKSSY) for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture in the State, including enhancement of the income of fishers and fish farmers. The Department of Fisheries, Government of India during the last five financial years and current financial year (2020-21 to 2025-26) has accorded approvals to the fisheries and aquaculture development proposals at a total cost of Rs.543.22 crore with the Central share of Rs. 299.88 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). The scheme inter-alia provides social security measure to fishers, fish workers through group accidental insurance scheme (GAIS) coverage to both marine and inland fishers and allied fish workers wherein the entire insurance premium amount is shared between the Centre &State in the ratio of 60:40 basis for General States, 90:10 for the Himalayan & North Eastern States and in the case of the Union Territories, the entire premium amount is paid by the Centre. The insurance coverage provided under the PMMSY includes (i) Rs.5,00,000/- against death or permanent total disability, (ii) Rs.2,50,000/- for permanent partial disability and (iii) hospitalization expenses in the event of accident for a sum of Rs. 25,000/-. During the last four years (2021-22 to 2024-25) and current financial years (2025-26) of the implementation of the PMMSY, Central Government has released a sum of Rs.149.07 crores for insurance coverage of 167.33 lakh fishers with an average of 33.46 lakh fishers annually including Assam. As per the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households in the rural areas of the country conducted by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) during 77 round (January 2019- December 2019) with reference to the agricultural year July 2018- June 2019, the average monthly income per agricultural household in the Assam is Rs. 10,675. The income includes income from wages, income from leasing out of land, net receipt from crop production, net receipt from farming of animals and net receipt from non-farm business. ***