India's livestock population has witnessed a "very small" decrease of about 3.33 per cent between the census of 2007 and 2012, the government told the Rajya Sabha today.
The states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar and Assam, however, witnessed a rise in their livestock population, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh while replying to questions.
He said Gujarat saw an increase of 15 per cent in livestock population while in UP the increase was 14 per cent, in Assam it was 10 per cent, Punjab 9 per cent and Bihar 8 per cent rise.
However, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Goa witnessed a decline in cattle population, he said.
The total livestock population in the country is 512.06 million.
The livestock census is conducted once in every five years. The latest livestock census was conducted in 2012. The livestock species namely cattle, buffaloes, sheep, pigs, horses & ponies, mules, donkeys, camels, mithun and yak were included in the census 2012.
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