Economics
of animal-rearing
- Livestock contributes 25 per cent of gross value
added in the agriculture sector.
-
· provides self-employment to about 21
million people. Rapid growth of this sector can be even more egalitarian and
inclusive than growth of the crop sector because those engaged in it are mainly
small holders and the landless.
-
·
Growth of livestock output averaged 4.8
per cent per annum during the Eleventh Plan.
The animal production system in India is predominantly part of a mixed
crop-livestock farming system vital for the security and survival of large
numbers of poor people. In such systems, livestock generate income, provide
employment, draught power and manure. This production system assumes special
significance in the present context of sustained economic growth, rising
income, increasing urbanization, changes in taste and preference that have lead
to dietary changes reflecting the importance of milk, meat, egg and fish.
Livestock rearing —
key to poverty reduction strategies
From equity and livelihood perspectives,
livestock rearing must be at the centre stage of poverty alleviation
programmes.
Livestock rearing is a key
livelihood and risk mitigation strategy for small and marginal farmers,
particularly across the rain-fed regions of India.The livestock sector has
been growing faster than many other sectors of agriculture and if
this trend continues then the sector will be the engine of growth for Indian
agriculture that many have predicted.
Most often we see livestock as providers of
essential food products, draught power, manure, employment, household income
and export earnings. However, it is a very important fact that livestock wealth
is much more equitably distributed than wealth associated with land. Thus, when
we think of the goal of inclusive growth, we should not forget that from equity
and livelihood perspectives, livestock rearing must be at the centre of the
stage in poverty alleviation programmes.
There are two other important aspects:
firstly, livestock rearing at the household level is largely a women-led
activity, and therefore income from livestock rearing and decisions related to
management of livestock within the household are primarily taken by women.
Interventions in India have demonstrated that support for livestock rearing has
contributed significantly to the empowerment of women and an increasing role in
decision making at both the household and village level. Secondly, livestock rearing,
particularly in the rain-fed regions of the country, is also emerging as a key
risk mitigation strategy for the poorest. They face increasingly uncertain and
erratic weather conditions which negatively impact crop productivity and wage
labour in the agriculture sector.
Three overarching messages
A global analysis of the livestock
sector by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was contained in the
recently released State of
Food and Agriculture and it
highlighted three overarching messages that merit discussion in the context of
India.
First, although livestock products make
important contributions to food security and poverty reduction for many
low-income rural families, the policy and institutional framework in many
countries has failed to serve the needs of these poorest households and to get
them onto the conveyor belt of development. A lack of public services in animal
health that reach out to the poorest in rural areas and a failure to link small
holder livestock keepers to better paying markets are but two examples of
common failings. The institutional and policy frameworks tend to support
intensive and commercial livestock rearing, both in the provision of services
and also in facilitating access to markets.
Second, livestock producers, including
traditional pastoralists and smallholders, are both victims of natural resource
degradation and contributors to it. Corrective action most likely lies in a mix
of public goods related to environmental protection, ecosystem services and
through incentives for private investment to improve animal productivity,
particularly in remote regions. In the case of India, there are numerous
examples of community-led interventions where community management and
sustainable use of natural resources has positively impacted small holder
livestock rearing.
Third, animal health services not only
combat animal diseases that cause mortality and reduce animal productivity,
they also protect human health because of the risk of animal to human disease
transmission. Animal health systems have been neglected in many parts of the
world and this has led to institutional weaknesses that in turn lead to poor
delivery of animal health services and higher risks to livelihoods and human
health. In correcting this situation it must be recognised that the poor face
different risks and have different incentives and capacities to respond than do
intensive commercial farmers. Therefore, animal health service providers have
the additional challenge of recognising the differences between their
stakeholders and developing mechanisms to reach them all.
Moving forward on these key findings is not possible by relying either
on individuals alone or a single string of actions. Progress requires attention
from all actors in the social, environmental, animal health, human health and
agriculture sectors; that means public, private and community organisations
being actively engaged together. The livestock sector is far too important to
accept anything less.
Dairy and Livestock
Production
Milk
India
continues to be the largest producer of milk in the world.
Plan Schemes
Dairying
is an important source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed
as an important role in providing employment and income generating
opportunities. The Government of India and state governments are making strong
efforts to increase the productivity of milch animals and increase the per
capita availability of milk. The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and
Fisheries has attempted the building up cooperative infrastructure,
revitalization of sick dairy cooperative federations and extended support for
creation of infrastructure for production of quality milk and milk products.
Two important schemes being implemented are the Intensive Dairy Development
Programme for increasing milk production and procurement and the National
Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding for genetic upgradation of bovines. This
section highlights the efforts made by the GOI through its schemes formulated
to increase the production and productivity of milk, poultry, meat and fish.
Strengthening
Infrastructure for Quality & Clean Milk Production
The
scheme, introduced during October, 2003 has its objective the improvement of
the quality of raw milk produce at the village level by creating awareness
among farmers and members. Under the scheme, there is a provision for training
of farmers on good milking practices and the setting up of Bulk Milk Cooler
(BMC) at Dairy Cooperative Society level.
Assistance to
Cooperatives
The
central sector scheme started in 1999-2000, aims at revitalizing the sick dairy
cooperative unions at the district level and cooperative federations at the
State level. The rehabilitation plan is prepared by the National Dairy
Development Board (NDDB) in consultation with the concerned State Dairy
Federation and District Milk Union.
Dairy Venture Capital
Fund (DVCF)/Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS)
The
Dairy/Poultry Venture Capital Fund scheme was started in December, 2004. It has
been modified and renamed as the Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme
(DEDS) and is being implemented from September, 2010.
Cattle and Buffalo
Breeding: Livestock Production
India
has the world’s largest livestock population, accounting for about half the
population of buffaloes and 1/6th of the goat population. Such a large
population presents a challenge wherein existing productivity levels are
sustained by application of modern science and technology, incentives and
policies.
At
present 28 States and one Union Territory (UT) are participating in National
Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding. The objective of this scheme is to
promote genetic upgradation of bovines. Artificial Insemination (AI) centres have beenassisted and equipped to
function as mobile AI centres and 21,000 private AI centres have been
established for delivery of breeding services. In order to improve the quality
of semen production a Minimum Standard Protocol (MSP) for semen production has
been enforced at all semen stations; 49 frozen semen bull station have been
strengthened as per this MSP. A central Monitoring Unit (CMU) has been
constituted for evaluation of one semen stations in two years. Thirty four
semen stations in the country have acquired ISO certification against 3 during
2004. MSP for progeny testing and standard operating procedures for AI
technicians has also been formulated.
Challenges
The
challenges facing the dairy sector are given below:
Ø
Small
herd size and poor productivity
Ø
Inadequate
budgetary allocation over the years
Animal
Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries
Ø
Lack
of equity with crop production
Ø
Inadequate
availability of credit
Ø
Poor
access to organized markets deprive farmers of proper milk price
Ø
Poor
AI service net-work
Ø
Shortage
of manpower and funds
Ø
Limited
availability of quality breeding bulls
Ø
Low
acceptability of AI in buffaloes
Ø
Disease
outbreaks: mortality & morbidity
Ø
Deficiency
of vaccines and vaccination set-up
Ø
Induction
of crossbred animals in areas poor in feed resources
Ø
Majority
of grazing lands are either degraded or encroached
Ø
Diversion
of feed & fodder ingredients for industrial use
The Way Forward
Continuous
support to the States is essential for further genetic upgradation programmes
to meet the fast increasing demand for milk in the country. There is further
need to consolidate and improve the breeding infrastructure created under
NPCBB, scientific programmes like Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT), Multi
Ovulation Embryo Transfer Technology (MOET), Markers Assisted Selection (MAS)
and development of semen sexing technology and use of sexed semen for faster
propagation of elite germplasm and for increasing bovine productivity. The
following policy initiatives are required to attract investment and for further
development of dairy and livestock sector:
Ø Incentivize
investment in this sector
Ø Increase
public investment.
Meat
and Poultry Sector
In terms of population,
India ranks second in the world in goats and third in sheep. Unlike the dairy
sub-sector, growth in poultry production is mainly attributed to the efforts of
the organized private sector, which controls over 80% of the total production
in the country.
In poultry development,
the following three components are funded by the Department:
(i) Assistance to State
Poultry Farms
One time assistance is
provided to strengthen farms in terms of hatchery, brooding and rearing houses,
laying houses for birds with provision for feed mill and their quality
monitoring and in-house disease diagnostic facilities and feed analysis
laboratory.
(ii) Rural Backyard
Poultry Development
This component
envisages supply of backyard poultry to beneficiaries from Below Poverty Line
(BPL) families to enable them to gain supplementary income and nutritional
support.
(iii) Poultry Estates
Entrepreneurship skills
are to be improved through an exploratory pilot project, ‘Poultry Estates’ in
two States. It is meant primarily for educated, unemployed youth and small
farmers with some margin money, for making a profitable venture out of various
poultry related activities in a scientific and bio-secure cluster approach.
Poultry
Venture Capital Fund
The scheme provides
finance through NABARD for components like establishment of poultry breeding
farm with low input technology birds, establishment of feed go-down, feed mill,
feed analytical laboratory, marketing of poultry products, egg grading, packing
and storage for export capacity, retail poultry dressing unit, egg and broiler
carts for sale of poultry products and central grower unit, etc.
Central
Poultry Development Organizations & Central Poultry Performance Testing
Centre
The four centres of the
Central Poultry Development Organizations are located at Chandigarh (Northern
Region), Bhubaneswar (Eastern Region), Mumbai (Western Region) and Bangalore
(Southern Region) while one Central Poultry Performance Testing Centre is at
Gurgaon, Haryana. These centres are promoting the development of poultry
through the following measures:
·
Availability of quality chicks of
identified low-input technology poultry stocks is ensured.
·
Diversification into rearing of Duck and
Turkey (Southern Region), Japanese Quail (Northern and Western region) and
Guinea fowl (Eastern region).
·
Training of trainers, farmers, women
beneficiaries, various public and private sector poultry organizations, NGOs,
Banks, Cooperatives and foreign trainees etc.
·
Regular testing of various stocks
available in the country to assess their performance.
Challenges
The challenges facing
the meat and poultry sector include:
Ø Maize
availability and cost: maize is the single most important ingredient of poultry
feed, its’ availability at a reasonable cost is the major problem of poultry
sector.
Ø Diseases:
Pathogenic and emerging diseases namely AI often cause heavy losses both in
domestic market and international trade.
Ø Lack
of Marketing Intelligence: There is a dire need for realistic national
marketing intelligence to bridge the gap between supply and demand of poultry
& poultry products.
Ø Human
Resource Development: To meet the growing demand of sustainable and safe
production there is a huge demand for trained and skilled manpower in poultry
sector.
Ø Large
size of target population to be improved in terms of productivity with
application of science and technology pose a formidable challenge.
Ø Low
level of processing and value addition in animal products.
The
Way Forward
The following measure
are suggested to strengthen the meat and poultry sector for accelerated and
sustainable growth:
Ø Long-term
sustainable production measures have to be looked into to increase the
production & quality of maize.
Ø Active
surveillance, monitoring and control in case of any outbreaks in rapid manner.
Ø Network
for a realistic national and global poultry database and marketing intelligence
may be developed.
Ø Sufficient
trained manpower should be developed in the existing institutions.
Ø With
growing urbanization and increasing quality consciousness, the market for
scientifically produced meat products is expected to grow rapidly. The market
is growing for ready-to-eat and semi-processed meat products because of a
changing socio-economic scenario and an increase in exports to neighboring
countries, especially the Middle East.
Ø The
mechanized slaughter houses produce huge quantities of offal and digesta from
the slaughtered animals which could be profitably utilized for production of
value added products, like Meat-cum-Bone Meal (MBM), Tallow, Bone Chips, Pet
Foods and methane as a source of energy for value addition in most of the
modern plants.
Ø There
is a need to support pig rearing in order to improve sow productivity, growth
rate of piglets and feed conversion efficiency.
Ø It
is important to encourage proper utilization of by-products of livestock
slaughter for higher income of livestock owners. The environmental pollution
and spread of livestock diseases has to be prevented.
Nutrition:
Fodder and Feed
With only 2.29% of the
land area of the world, India is maintaining about 10.71% of the worlds
livestock. The nutritive value of feed and fodder has a significant bearing on
productivity of livestock. The gap between the demand and supply of fodder is
fast increasing. In order to bridge this gap, and ensure production of quality
fodder, the DADF is implementing a Central Fodder Development Organization
(CFDO) Scheme. This has 7 Regional Stations for Forage Production and
Demonstration (RSFP&D), one Central Fodder Seed Production Farm (CFSPF) at
Hessarghatta (Karnataka) and Central Minikit Testing Programme (CMTP) for
fodder crops. A modified ‘Centrally Sponsored Fodder & Feed Development
Scheme’ is being implemented from April, 2010 for assisting the states in their
efforts to augment the quantity and quality of feed and fodder.
Challenges
The main challenges in
providing adequate and quality fodder and feed include:
Ø While
numbers of livestock are growing, but the grazing lands are gradually
diminishing. The area under fodder cultivation is also limited.
Ø A
majority of the grazing lands have either been degraded or encroached upon
restricting their availability for livestock grazing.
Ø Due
to increasing pressure on land for growing food grains, oil seeds, and pulses,
adequate attention has not been given to the production of fodder crops.
Ø Diversified
use of agriculture residues like paper industry, packaging, etc. widening the
gap between the supply and demand for fodder.
Ø There
is lack of authentic data on availability of fodder, crop residues, agro
industrial by- products and feed grains (coarse cereal grains). This is
required to build an actual database, on feed and fodder, to be used for more
effective and realistic planning of livestock sector development.
Ø Current
production of improved fodder seed in the country is about 40,000 metric tonnes
as against the requirement of 5.4 lakh metric tonnes to be cultivated on 10.8
million ha area.
Ø A
substantial amount of crop residues is burnt by the farmers after harvesting of
main crop like wheat and paddy.
Ø In
most of the states there are inadequate staffs to address the problems related
to fodder.
The
Way Forward
The measures which can
contribute to improved fodder and feed situation include the following:
Ø A
reliable data-base is required for assisting in realistic planning.
Ø Supply
of quality fodder and feed should be encouraged on a priority basis.
Ø The
forest department can play a major role in augmenting fodder production in the
country. The degraded forest areas, mostly under the Joint Forest Management
Committees (JFMCs), can be used for assisting growth of indigenous fodder
varieties of grasses, legumes, and trees under area-specific Silvi-pastoral
systems.
Ø There
is a need for undertaking an effective Extension campaign in major states for
efficient utilization of crop residues, growing fodder crops, Azolla
production, etc.
Ø Production
of seeds of high yielding fodder varieties needs to be increased in the
organized/cooperative sector.
Ø High
yielding fodder varieties need to be introduced throughout the country, instead
of dual purpose varieties.
Ø Production
of condensed fodder blocks needs to be encouraged by creating an assured
market, coupled with providing a transport subsidy for supply to distant areas.
Livestock
Health
Infectious
Diseases
High prevalence of
various animal diseases like Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits
Ruminants (PPR), Brucellosis, Classical Swine Fever and Avian Influenza is a
serious impediment to growth in the livestock sector. Most of these losses can
be prevented through timely immunization. The Department of Animal Husbandry,
Dairying & Fisheries (DADF) has initiated National Programmes for
prevention and control of FMD, PPR and Brucellosis.
Similar programmes have
been initiated to control PPR and Brucellosis. Shortages of vaccines and lack
of proper cold chain facility are among the major hindrances to a faster
implementation of these programmes.
Veterinary
Support Services
Most of the veterinary
hospitals and polyclinics and veterinary
dispensaries have poor infrastructure and equipment. Further, the technical
manpower is too inadequate to support health programmes for the massive
livestock population. The DADF has now initiated a programme for the
“Establishment and Strengthening of existing Veterinary Hospitals and
Dispensaries (ESVHD)”. There is a dire need to strengthen veterinary hospital
facilities for timely diagnosis and treatment of animal diseases. Emphasis also
needs to be given to strengthen art mobile veterinary services to ensure
door-step veterinary support.
Disease
Reporting
The present system of
disease reporting is slow. A computerized National Animal Disease Reporting
System (NADRS) linking Taluka, Block, District and State Headquarters to a
Central Disease Reporting and Monitoring Unit at the DADF in New Delhi has been
initiated in 2010-11. A faster and reliable disease reporting and processing of
data will help in the development of appropriate policies and intervention for
disease prevention and containment.
Challenges
The main challenges
confronting the animal health sector include:
Ø Veterinary
hospitals, dispensaries and technical manpower are inadequate.
Ø The
disease reporting is neither timely nor complete which delays proper
interventions.
Ø Inadequate
availability of vaccines and lack of cold storage.
The
Way Forward
The following measures
will strengthen the animal health sector:
Ø Adequate
veterinary disease diagnosis, epidemiology, hospital infrastructure and
manpower need to be developed.
Ø A
strong programme for supply of sufficient veterinary vaccines is necessary.
Fisheries
Sector
·
India is the second largest producer of
fish in the world.
·
The policy for fishery development
emphasizes inland fisheries, particularly aquaculture in recent years, which
has been instrumental in increasing production, enhancing exports and reducing
the poverty of fishermen.
Allocations made for
the development of fisheries sector through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and
Central Sector Schemes are utilized for implementation of both development and
welfare oriented schemes through the respective states and UTs. In addition to
the allocations made through CSS and CS, assistance is provided through other
flagship programmes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and the recently
launched National Mission for Protein Supplements (NMPS)
Challenges
The main challenges
facing the fisheries sector include:
Ø Shortage
of quality and healthy fish seeds and other critical inputs.
Ø Lack
of resource-specific fishing vessels and reliable resource and updated data.
Ø Inadequate
awareness about nutritional and economic benefits of fish.
Ø Inadequate
extension staff for fisheries and training for fishers and fisheries personnel.
Ø Absence
of standardization and branding of fish products.
The
Way Forward
The following measures
will help to further strengthen the fisheries sector:
Ø Schemes
of integrated approach for enhancing inland fish production and productivity
with forward and backward linkages right from production chain and input
requirements like quality fish seeds and fish feeds and creation of required
infrastructure for harvesting, hygienic handling, value addition and marketing
of fish.
Ø Existing
Fish Farmers Development Authority (FFDAs) would be revamped and cooperative
sectors, SHGs and youths would be actively involved in intensive aquaculture
activities.
Ø Large
scale adoption of culture-based capture fisheries and cage culture in
reservoirs and larger water bodies are to be taken up.
Ø Sustainable
exploitation of marine fishery resources especially deep sea resources and
enhancement of marine fish production through sea farming, mariculture,
resource replenishment programme like setting up of artificial reefs.
References:
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The Planning Commission website(Volume II of 12th Five year plan document)
The Hindu
