Approaches and Measures for Managing Livestock Amid Floods: A Study in Udalguri District, Assam

Background: Assam accounts for 3.25 per cent of India’s total livestock, with significant contributions from cattle, pigs and poultry. Udalguri, a of Assam with 4.97 lakh of total livestock population which is 3.83 per cent of the total in Assam has experienced severe floods yearly with 38488 ha flood inundated area (19 per cent of the of the district’s total land area i.e 197518 ha). Considering the above facts, the present study was taken up to assess the livestock losses, identifying the problems faced and strategies adopted by the livestock growers, association among different strategies adopted along with the factors influencing farmers’ strategies and actions for managing livestock during and after floods in Udalguri district of Assam. Methods: For the present research work, statistical techniques namely purposive and random sampling were followed for selecting 25 numbers of farmers from each eight villages of the two revenue circles i.e Kalaigaon and Udalguri which make upto 200 respondents in total. The data were gathered using a pre-tested schedule through personal interviews conducted in November and December 2024. The data were subjected to frequency, percentage, rank, Pearson correlation coefficient, Binary logit regression and Pareto analysis. Result: The results revealed that during 2023-24, there was a monetary loss of an average Rs. 30080.10 with an average of 8 livestock losses per household. The issues encountered by the livestock growers were loss of grazing areas (100%) and disease spread (94.5%) with rank I and II respectively. The mitigating strategies adopted were like construction of animal sheds in the highlands (94.5%), feeding of locally available crop residues and making hay/ bales (100%) and vaccination of animals before or after flood (48%). There was a strong correlation between feeding of locally available crop residues and making hay/bales (r=1.00), a moderate correlation between vaccination of animals before or after flood with the construction of animal sheds in highlands (r=0.72) and a weak correlation between silage making with the construction of pucca sheds for animals (r=0.32). Age (-0.091) and farm size (-9.214) are significantly negative while education (1.354), family income (0.0021) and training received (1.235) were found to positively influence farmers’ strategies and actions for managing livestock during floods.