Consider this. The share of livestock in the agriculture and allied sector GVA (Gross Value Added) has risen from 24.4 per cent in FY15 to 30.2 per cent in FY22. India is also the world’s largest milk producer and home to the world’s largest livestock population.
Fisheries, too, is a sunrise sector, witnessing a record catch of 17.5 MT in FY23 (8 per cent of global production) and contributing 6.7 per cent to the agriculture GVA. It was recognising this very contribution of the sectors in providing livelihoods and their role in the country’s economic growth that the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying was formed in May 2019. Its mandate is simple: ensure these sectors now go from strength to strength.