Methane from India’s livestock population, the world’s largest, can significantly raise global temperatures according to a study, published January in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. It said that as a greenhouse gas, methane has 20 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide.

The software tool, called Information Network on Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH), was presented at the annual Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock Meeting held at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in June 2018 by Vinod Ahuja, a policy officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization.  

Overall, the programme has helped reduce enteric methane emissions by 12—15 per cent while raising the average daily incomes of farmers by US$0.37 per animal per day, Ahuja said.

INAPH calculates optimal feed mixes for each of 2.4 million animals in more than 30,000 villages, with a local resource person trained to use the software and provide advisory services to farmers. Factored into the software tool are the type of food, weight of the animal and fat content in its milk.

To access the full article by M. Sreelata please visit the SciDevNet website.