Integrated Fodder and Livestock Development in Uttarakhand:NGO's Initiatives

For years, it has been widely assumed that Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) put significant and positive effects on the economy of poor households in developing nations. The Integrated Fodder&Livestock Development Project (IFLDP) implemented through an NGO named Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) was selected for the study. The project's prime mandate was livestock and fodder development which had been implemented in a phased manner since 2008 and completed in March 2014. This paper examines the impact of this intervention in terms of animal husbandry practices, production and income in a cluster of villages in Uttarakhand State. For the study, a list of all beneficiaries of the NGO was prepared and a sampling frame with all the beneficiaries of the project in each of the three clusters was drawn. Finally 40 beneficiaries were chosen from each of the clusters by simple random sampling, thereby making a total of 120 respondents. The analysis depicted that the technological empowerment through IFLDP was maximum in case of artificial insemination and fodder preservation practices. Green and dry fodder was also found to be increasing in the villages by the initiatives of the project.