Livestock Context of India
Animal husbandry is an integral component of Indian agriculture supporting Livelihoods’
of more than 1two-thirds of the rural population. India has 256.7% of world’s buffaloes,
12.5% cattle, 20.4% small ruminants, 2.4% camel, 1.4% equine, 1.5% pigs and 3.1%
poultry. International Livestock Research 3reported that the livestock sector grew at an
annual rate of 5.3% during the 1980s, which was almost double the growth rate of the
crop sector. In subsequent decades, growth in the livestock sector declined and reached
3.6% during the 2000s. Despite this decline, growth in the livestock sector remained about
1.5 times higher than growth in the crop sector .Livestock production directly contributes
to food security by being the source of milk, meat, and eggs. Though livestock products
are expensive yet they are the best sources of high quality protein and micronutrients that
are essential for development and good health. However, poor people tend to sell them
instead of consuming at home which is causing low per capita annual consumption of
milk (69 kg) and meat (3.7 kg). The government of India initiatives like crossbreeding
programs (door step artificial insemination services in cattle and buffaloes), improved
animal health services, fodder development programs and better access to markets has
contributed to increased livestock production but the average yield is low compared to
world average: milk yield of Indian cattle is fifty percent less and meat yield 20-60%. Some
of the causes of low productivity are explained below.
The small holder livestock production is mostly characterized as extensive where animals
rely upon low quality roughages. Crop residues like rice, wheat, sorghum, millets etc., are
the key source of feed for animals and their availability is not adequate, the deficit of dry
fodder, concentrates and green fodder is 10%, 33% and 35%, respectively. Mostly small
holders are unable to grow cultivated fodder as the land possessed by them is very small
and it is used for producing cereals.
Outbreaks of diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease, Black Quarter, PPR, Brucellosis,
Swine fever and Avian Influenza etc., on a regular basis continue to impact productivity.
Despite promoting crossbreeding program for more than four decades, India’s crossbred
population has not exceeded 25% in cattle, 21.5% in pigs and 5.2% in sheep. Most of the
crossbreds are not properly managed by small holders due to lack of adequate knowledge
and resources.
Due to urbanization and conversion of waste lands for agriculture purpose grazing lands
are shrinking dramatically impacting fodder scarecity.
Although, there is an improvement in health service delivery system in the country
availability of services is mostly observed in milk shed areas that too confining to dairy
1
Indian rural population was 851,530,000 in the year 2013
Report of the working group on animal husbandry and dairying 12 th Five year plan 2012-17 submitted to Government
of India
3
C.K. Rao, Felix Bachhman, Vishnu Sharma, P. Venkataramaiah, Jitesh Panda, Raja Rathinam, Intercooperation
Social Development India ( 2014).Smallholder dairy value chain development in India and selected states (Assam
and Bihar): Situation analysis and trends, a publication by International Livestock Research Institute.
2
animals. Reach of quality services to small ruminants, pigs and backyard poultry still a
big challenge.
The livestock sector is likely to face threat of climate change. The global warming is likely
to cause a loss of 1.6 million tons milk production by 2020 and 15 million tons by 2050
from current levels in India. The decline in yield may vary from 10-30% in first lactation,
and 5-20% in second and third lactations4. The decline in milk production will be higher
in crossbreds (0.61%) followed by buffaloes (0.5%) and indigenous cattle (0.4%). A rise
of 2-6°C due to global warming between 2050s and 2080s is projected to negatively
impact growth, puberty and maturity of crossbred animals and buffaloes. Therefore
earnings of the farmers dependent primarily on animal husbandry becomes vulnerable
when heat stress conditions prevail. Currently the policies are focusing more on
promoting indigenous breeds which are more hardy, robust and less affected by extreme
temperature and high humidity conditions with potential to produce equivalent amounts
of milk as crossbreds.
CK.Rao
Senior Advisor
Intercooperation Social Development
4 Srivastava, A.K. (2010). Climate Change Impacts on Livestock and Dairy Sector: Issues and Strategies, pp 127135. Lead Papers. 2010. National Symposium on Climate Change and Rainfed Agriculture, February 18-20, 2010.
Indian Society of Dryland Agriculture, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, India.