Animal Husbandry Department

About Us

Uttarakhand was added as the 27th state to the Indian Union on 9th Nov., 2000 comprising of 13 districts of the erstwhile parent state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttarakhand consists of 2 Divisions, 13 Districts and 95 Blocks. Out of these two districts viz. Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar are predominantly in the plain area, Dehradun and Nainital are partially plain, and remaining nine districts of Almora, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Bageshwar, Pauri, Tehri, Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi are entirely hilly. The state has a large geographical area of 53484 sq km with a population of 84.79 lakhs (2001 census) with a population density of 159 persons per sq km. About 74 % population resides in rural areas and 47.2 % of the total population lives below poverty line. Land holdings in the state are largely rainfed, marginal and fragmented. Out of the total area of the state 67 % of the land is reserve forest.
As is true for the rest of the country, livestock farming is germaine to Uttarakhand and forms an integral part of the rural economy contributing in some form or the other to household income and family nutrition, besides producing the much needed biomass and draught power for agricultural operations. This activity is carried out in millions of household across the state and provides employment to the marginal and landless farmers.