Six states including, Rajasthan Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have been badly affected by rainfall deficiency, sought a total assistance of 43,461 crore rupees from the Centre to tide over the crisis. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, minister of state for Agriculture Charan Das Mahant said Karnataka, Haryana and Punjab are the other states that have sought Central assistance for drought mitigation across various sectors including feed and fodder.

The minister said production of fodder has dipped due to severe drought conditions in various parts of the country affecting the livestocks population. Mr Mahant informed that
preliminary reports indicate a decline in area under cultivation of coarse cereals to the extent of 4.03 million
hectare which is likely to have an adverse impact on availability of feed and fodder.

He said there is no proposal under consideration of the Centre to provide fodder security to the livestocks population on the lines of the food security for human beings as this is
because Central and Centrally sponsored schemes are available for development of feed and fodder.