Animal rearing is one of the traditional sources of livelihood of almost all the rural households of the state

Animal rearing is one of the traditional sources of livelihood of almost all the rural households of the state

Animal rearing is one of the traditional sources of livelihood of almost all the rural households of the state. In fact rural households in Orissa rear animals, mainly cattle to supplement family income. Milk and milk products like cheese, curd and ghee are vital ingredients of daily diet in rural households. Dung for cooking fuel and manure and draught power are other utilities which force almost all rural households to keep cattle in their houses. In a costal district like Balasore, cattle dung is the main source of cooking fuel as forest coverage is marginal ().
3.13 Operational land holding size
Majority of the farmers are either marginal (67.98%) or small (22.11%) with less than 2 ha of land (Census 2011). These two categories of farmers operate only 65% of total holdings. Percentage of large and medium farmers (>4 ha) are very less in the district in comparison to state averages. Average land holding size of the farmers is also very less, .i.e. 0.93 ha as against 1.25 ha in the Orissa state. This is because of high population density in the district.