PROMOTION OF DAIRY HUSBANDRY FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD
Dr. N.G. Hegde
nghegde@baif.org.in
1.
Background
Animal Husbandry is making a significant contribution to the national economy
and socio-economic development of the country. Livestock is the major asset and
source of gainful self-employment for most of the small farmers in rural India. The
National Agriculture Policy, which aims at an annual growth rate of 4%, is
expecting the Animal Husbandry sector to achieve a 6-8% growth rate during the
Tenth Five Year Plan. While facilitating growth in livestock sector, it is also
necessary to consider the threat and opportunities caused by the global market pull
and the impact of the agreement of the World Trade Organisation.
India has over 20% of the world’s livestock population. Although the population is
being stabilised, there has been a gradual shift from cattle to sheep and goat
husbandry, because of the changing economics arising due to forage and water
scarcities, infrastructure and policies. Modern mechanised agriculture and small
holdings have decreased the need for animal draft power. With the problem of
culling unwanted cattle, farmers in many regions prefer buffalo over cattle.
The population of different species of livestock in India in 1997 and 2003 is
presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Livestock Population in India
Sr.No.
Species
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cattle
Buffalo
Sheep
Goat
Other Animals
Total Livestock
Livestock Census
1997
2003
198.9
185.2
89.9
97.9
57.5
61.5
122.7
124.4
16.34
16.05
485.4
485.0
Growth Rate (%)
2003 over 1997
-6.89
8.91
6.96
1.38
-1.77
-0.08
Source: Livestock Census, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture
Nevertheless, the milk production in the country during 2003-04 was 88.10 million
tons, which increased to 91.0 million tons in 2004-05. The per capita availability
of milk has increased from 202 g in 1996-97 to 231 g in 2003-04. The value of
output contributed by livestock in 2003-04 was estimated at Rs.164,509 crores, of
which contribution from milk was Rs.110,085 crores, while that of meat was
Rs.29,319 crores. The demand for milk is likely to increase by two folds while the
demand for meat is expected to increase by three folds by the next decade. Thus,
serious efforts are needed to improve the productivity of livestock sector in the
country, to meet the local demand and encash export opportunities.
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2.
National Livestock Policy
The Indian Livestock Policy therefore will have to take a holistic view and find
ways of making best use of the opportunities at the national and international levels.
With this background, the National Livestock Development Policy should pursue
the following goals (Anon.1996).
3.

All round improvement in quality and efficiency to compete in the global market;

Enable resource poor households and women to take active part in livestock
development for sustainable livelihood;

Ensure ecological sustainability through conservation of native breeds and
control of unplanned population growth to match with available feed and fodder
resources.
Priorities in Tenth Five Year Plan
3.1.
3.2.
Thrust Areas: In tune with the National Policy, the Tenth Five Year Plan
gave major thrust to the following activities (DAHD.2005)

Rapid genetic upgradation of cattle and buffaloes and improvement
in delivery mechanism of breeding inputs and services to farmers,
including promotion of clean milk production;

Extension of dairy development activities in non-operational flood,
hilly and backward areas;

Provision of nutritious feed and fodder through promotion of fodder
crops and fodder trees;

Provision of adequate animal health cover services including
creation of disease free zones and control of foot and mouth disease;

Improvement of small ruminants;

Provision of credit facilities to farmers.
Strategy for Livestock Development
To achieve the goal, the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal
Husbandry, Government of India adopted the following strategy:

Expand and strengthen infrastructure for artificial insemination,
improve efficiency and effectiveness by using frozen semen technology
for cross breeding;
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3.3.

Creation of germplasm bank of superior bulls and bull mothers to serve
as nucleus germplasm pool;

Facilitate genetic improvement of important native breeds through
selective breeding and crossbreeding low productive non-descript stock
for both milk and drought purposes;

Improve productivity of pasture lands, through introduction of
improved fodder varieties and development of wastelands for forage
production;

Provide animal health services with special emphasis on control of foot
and mouth disease;

Promote technological inventions for adding value to livestock
products;

Improve the database of livestock performance and products.
Schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture, AHD
3.3.1. Central Cattle Breeding Farms: Seven farms are engaged in
production of indigenous and exotic bull calves of Tharparkar, Red
Sindhi, Jersey, Holstein Friesian and crossbred cattle and Surti and
Murrah buffaloes. However, these farms altogether produced only
about 350 bull calves in 2004-05.
3.3.2. Central Frozen Semen Production Laboratory in Bangalore
produced 12 lakh doses of semen in 2004-05.
3.3.3. Central Herd Registration Scheme (CHRS): It was launched to
register elite cows and buffaloes of important native breeds and to
provide incentive for calf rearing. Field performance recording was
initiated in breeding tracts of important recognised indigenous breeds
for identification of superior germplasm for using in future breeding
programme. Four units established at Rohtaka, Ahmedabad, Ajmer
and Ongole are engaged in laying down selection standards and
identification of superior germplasm of Gir, Kankrej, Haryana and
Ongole breeds of cattle and Murrah, Jaffrabadi, Surti and Mahasana
breeds of buffalo. About 11000 elite cows and buffaloes have been
registered during 2004-05.
3.3.4. National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB)
initiated in 2000 aims at genetic upgradation and conservation of
important indigenous breeds. The important components of the
programme are:
3
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Introduction of superior bulls for breeding;
Quality control of semen banks;
Promotion of private mobile AI service at doorsteps of farmers
Streamlining the distribution of liquid nitrogen
Restructuring of the institutional infrastructure
3.3.5. Feed and Fodder Development: Assistance is being provided to
States for enhancing feed and fodder production. Seven Regional
Stations and a Central Station have been established for production of
fodder seeds and to set-up field demonstrations. Establishment of
fodder banks, enrichment of agricultural by-products and supply of
fodder mini kit are the major initiatives to enhance the feed supply.
3.3.6. Livestock Health: Apart from supporting biological products units,
disease diagnostic laboratories and livestock disease control
programme, special programmes have been launched to control
Rinderpest and foot and mouth diseases.
3.3.7. Dairy Development: Major schemes launched to tap the potentials of
dairy husbandry are:
a. Dairy venture capital fund;
b. Integrated dairy development in non-operational flood, hilly and
backward areas;
c. Assistance to dairy cooperatives;
d. Promotion of private dairy processors;
e. Strengthening infrastructure for quality and clean milk production
3.3.8. The programmes of NDDB: The perspective plan 2010 covers
strengthening of cooperative business, enhancing productivity,
managing quality and building national information network in the
operational flood areas.
3.4. Schemes of State Animal Husbandry Departments (AHDs)

The functions of the State AHDs are almost in tune with the thrust areas
of the Government of India. However, in the absence of clear cut
information flow from the Directorate to the Veterinary dispensaries,
major focus of the field staff has been towards health care, particularly
treatment of sick animals. Preventive vaccination is another important
function, but lack of funds to procure vaccines and delay in supply from
the state owned Production Units, are often rendering the programme
ineffective.

All most all the State Governments have introduced artificial
insemination services using frozen semen over the last two decades.
However, the impact of the programme has not been up to the
expectation due to poor quality semen, irregular supply of liquid
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nitrogen, inability of the department to provide service at the doorsteps
of the farmers and competition by Dairy Federations, NGOs and private
paravets.

State AHDs are also engaged in carrying out activities such as
managing cattle farms, calf rearing centres, fodder demonstration farms,
fodder banks, veterinary clinics in urban areas, which are draining huge
resources without contributing to the objectives. Hence, it is necessary
to reorganise the State AHDs to focus on the thrust areas. However, in
the absence of adequate budgetary provision, most of the activities in
the State are dependent on the schemes sponsored by the Government of
India.

Support to Goshalas for breed conservation and multiplication of elite
germplasm.
4. Impact of National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB)
Among various schemes implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, NPCBB seems
to be the most effective programmes to face the challenges and to contribute to the
economy through participation of weaker sections of the society. This programme
which was launched in the year 2000, initially in five states, has been extended to 26
states. The impact of this programme are:





Number of AIs have increased from 20 million (1999-2000) to 34 million
(2004-05).
Coverage of bovine population under AI has increased from 16% to 31%.
Improvement in conception rate from 19.91% to 35.34%.
Support to 51 semen stations to improve the quality.
21,605 AI centres were strengthened to convert from stationary centres to
mobile centres to provide services at doorsteps
At the end of Phase I, it is proposed to bring 70% of the breedable 113.61 million
bovine population under organised breeding programme. These include 12.62
million crossbred, 51.13 million indigenous cattle and 50.28 million buffaloes. To
fulfill this task, over 14,000 self-employed paravets will be inducted in the field.
The programme is likely to produce 10 million improved females to replace the old
and unproductive stock.
Phase II of the NPCBB project is aiming to completely modernize AI network and
related infrastructure to improve the quality of bulls, semen, conception rate, health
care and hygiene, while developing indigenous breeds. The focus is to support
over 70 million rural households who own livestock, of which 60 million own
large herds, to enhance their income. As about 62% labour is being contributed by
women, empowerment of women through livestock husbandry is an opportunity.
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5.
Constraints in Cattle and Buffalo Development
Although, the programme is very ambitious and will focus on involving small and
marginal farmers under livestock husbandry, there are several constraints affecting
the performance of this programme. The major constraints are presented below:
1. Non-availability of superior quality breeding bulls;
2. Poor quality of semen produced by many of the laboratories;
3. Inadequate skills of AI technicians resulting in low rate of conception and
infertility;
4. Inadequate back-up support for AI technicians for supply of liquid nitrogen,
frozen semen, health care and technical guidance;
5. Poor accessibility to veterinary services;
6. Shortage of fodder resources;
7. Absence of field oriented conservation strategy for indigenous breeds;
8. Lack of database on economics of different breeds of cattle and buffalo;
9. Lack of policy with regard to management of unwanted and diseased animals;
10. Lack of coordination among various agencies engaged in livestock husbandry.
6.
Recommendations
Keeping in view the performance of various schemes launched by the Ministry of
Agriculture and the State Departments of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary
Services, the following recommendations are made to boost dairy husbandry during
the next 10 years, particularly under the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
6.1. Genetic Improvement
6.1.1.
Production of Superior Quality Bulls



6.1.2.
The primary focus of all the State owned and supported farms
should be on breed conservation and production of elite bull mothers
and bull calves.
Farmers maintaining elite herds of cattle and buffalo can also be
involved in bull calf production through planned breeding and buyback guarantee.
Application of MOET for production of bull mothers and bull
calves.
Production of Superior Quality Semen

All the semen freezing laboratories should be registered with the
Ministry of Agriculture or their nominees in different regions for
periodic evaluation of the quality.
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6.2.

The bulls to be brought under semen freezing should have
certification for their pedigree, performance and disease free status.

The Ministry should establish a nodal agency to coordinate the
distribution of frozen semen produced from different labs to various
States and private agencies.
Conservation of Genetic Resources
6.2.1. Indigenous breeds: India is rich in livestock genetic resources. There are
about 30 indigenous breeds of cattle, which can be grouped into 3 types,
based on the following:



Milch breeds: Sahiwal, Gir, Rathi and Red Sindhi
Draft breeds: Amritmahal, Bachuar, Bargur, Dangi, Hallikar,
Kangayam, Kenkatha, Kherigarh, Khillari, Malvi, Nagori, Nimari,
Ponwar, Umblachery, Red Khandari and Siri
Dual Purpose breeds: Deoni, Gaolao, Hariana, Kankrej, Krishna
valley, Mewati, Ongole and Tharparkar, Vechur and Punganur.
The buffalo breeds are grouped into large sized breeds such as Murrah,
Jaffrabadi and medium sized breeds such as Surti and Toda. Among them
the population of most of the breeds, excepting Murrah, Mehasana and
Surti are declining.
6.2.2. Status of Indigenous Breeds: The animal genetic resources have been
very well documented in the country with respect to their contribution,
utility and morphological characters. Most of the breeds of cattle and
buffalo are maintained on state owned farms, apart from farmers, in their
native tracts. However, the farmers have not been recording their
performance regularly.
The population of draft breeds has been declining in the recent past due to
mechanisation of agriculture. Productivity of milch breeds has severely
declined, resulting in gross neglect and genetic erosion. As most of the
breeds, except good milch breeds are on the verge of decline, it is
necessary to take up various steps to conserve these breeds. It is also
necessary to take up molecular characterisation of these breeds for
establishing their genetic distances and to identify DNA markers
responsible for various economic traits.
With regard to economics of milch as well as draft breeds, there is a
serious inadequacy of data from the field. In the absence of enonomic
data, conservation of native breeds, particularly the draft breeds is
difficult.
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6.2.3. Strategy for Conservation of Indigenous Breeds: The present strategy
for conservation of native breeds is to maintain elite animals in the State
owned farms and provide support to Goshalas.
Under in-situ
conservation, 100-150 elite females maintained in their native tracts are
selected and registered. The performance of these animals is recorded and
the male cows are procured for breeding programme. Under ex-situ
conservation, 20-25 good quality bulls are selected every year, maintained
under semen collection and used in the native tracts.
There is a
programme of progeny testing of bulls of different breeds. However, it is
not significant due to very small number of bulls engaged in the
programme. Documentation of performance of various breeds has been
undertaken through various networks and coordinated projects of ICAR.
The Government is also providing breeding services using semen of elite
bulls in their native tracts.
However, due to lack of interest among the farmers to keep low yielding
breeds and inadequate resources available for extension and promotion, it
is difficult for the AHD to conserve these breeds in the long run.
Therefore, the conservation strategy should clearly identify the purpose,
approach and access to resources before launching such a programme in
the future.
It is also recommended to initiate the following activities for conservation
of important native breeds of cattle and buffaloes.
1. Study the economics and utility of different breeds;
2. Incentive for maintaining the native breeds by compensating actual and
opportunity costs;
3. Assurance for procurement of elite animals at a premium;
4. Procurement of elite females from farmers in bull mother farms
managed by research institutions, universities and NGOs for super
ovulation.
5. Use of embryo of elite animals in the field for multiplication of elite
progeny;
6. Identification of DNA markers for economic traits and genetic
engineering to transfer these traits to other breeds.
6.3.
Breeding Services and Management
6.3.1. Training and Regulation of AI Technicians: To avoid inefficient
breeding services, skill oriented training should be organised for paravets.
The nodal agency can conduct a test for trained paravets to operate
breeding services privately.
To check the quality of the services and to avoid exploitation of the
farmers, privately operating paravets can be brought under the supervision
of the local Dairy Federation. The State Animal Husbandry department
can monitor the work and arrange advanced training periodically. It is
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necessary to restrict the movement of paravets to certain villages to ensure
accountability of their services and to prevent unfair competition.
6.3.2. Support Services

Timely supply of various inputs such as liquid nitrogen, frozen semen,
vaccines, first aid kit, vitamins, mineral mixture and forage seeds is
essential for the success of the paravets. This can be entrusted to the
local Dairy Federation or NGO engaged in livestock husbandry.
6.3.3. Health Care

There is good scope to privatise health care services, particularly in
well established milksheds. Therefore, the Federations and private
entrepreneurs can be encouraged to take up the responsibility of
providing effective health care.

Private veterinarians should be encouraged to practice in close
association with paravets engaged in providing breeding services.
This can also enable paravets to take up minor treatments and refer
major cases to the veterinary doctor.

The State Animal Husbandry Department can convert selected
veterinary hospitals into specialised units for handling complicated
cases referred by the practising veterinarians.

Establishment of Disease Investigation laboratories by the local Dairy
Federation or private agencies can be encouraged to analyse the
samples collected by paravets. This will help in providing timely and
effective services.

Research and Development facilities should be strengthened for
application of biotechnology for disease diagnosis of production of
cost effective vaccines and control of important diseases.

AHDs may redefine their role with priority on disease surveillance,
preventive vaccinations, establishing disease free zones and
eradication of important diseases, forecasting of disease outbreaks and
awareness on preventive and curative measures for control, sanitation
and clean milk production. Monitoring of services provided by
paravets, veterinarians and evaluation of the performance of various
agencies can also be undertaken by the AHD.
6.3.4. Nodal Agencies

The responsibility of providing back-up services to paravets and
veterinarians can be assigned to milk processing units, Dairy
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Federations, Voluntary Organisations or Private entrepreneurs in the
region.

6.3.5.
These nodal agencies can also take up the production of critical inputs
such as frozen semen, cattle feed, forage seeds, etc. required by
farmers.
Management of Culled Animals

Presently, small farmers are not able to get rid of unproductive or sick
animals suffering from contagious diseases. Such unwanted animals
not only put pressure on feed resources, but also spread diseases.
Therefore, suitable arrangements should be made for disposal of the
culled animals by way of establishing panjarpoles through voluntary
organisations or any other means.

Export of animals to neighbouring countries, desiring to procure, can
be permitted and coordinated through the nodal agency / AHD.
6.4. Strategy for Feed Management
6.4.1. Availability of Feed and Fodder: Availability of feed and fodder is a major
constraint in promotion of dairy husbandry in the country. It has been
estimated that only 880 million tons of dry fodder was available including
greens, which can meet only 35-40% of the demand. This clearly indicates
that as most of the livestock are unfed, they are not able to perform
optimally. Out of the available dry matter, most of it is available in the
form of agricultural by-products and dried grass collected from community
wastelands and forests which are of inferior quality. Similarly, the
concentrates required for feeding the livestock are also in acute shortage.
As a result, even the high yielding animals, which are presumably well fed
are suffering from nutritional imbalance. Furthermore, there is a serious
problem of database due to non-availability of nutrients in the country.
With regard to cultivation of forage crops, hardly 2% of the area is being
utilised in selected pockets where dairy husbandry is prospering as an
important source of income. Further expansion of the area is possible only
when the quality of livestock owned by farmers improves significantly.
6.4.2. Development of Community Wastelands: Efforts should be made to
develop pasture lands involving local communities through soil and water
conservation, introduction of improved leguminous and grass seeds, forage
tree species and prevention of grazing.
6.4.3.
Increase in forage yields: Presently, no improved practices are followed
for cultivating forage crops. Thus efforts are needed to breed superior
fodder varieties, produce and supply good quality seeds, promote use of soil
amendments, biofertilisers and forage harvesting equipment.
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6.4.4.
Improvement of Nutritional Values: Presently, major quantity of dry
matter is contributed from paddy straws, wheat bhusa, sugarcane bagasse
and trash, which are of poor nutritional value and high fibre content. With
new techniques, the quality of this fodder should be improved. This will
also help in augmenting the fodder shortage.
6.4.5.
Fodder Banks: Establishment of fodder banks in fodder scarcity regions
through Dairy Federations and People’s Organisations can help small
farmers to feed their livestock during scarcity.
6.4.6.
Introduction of by-pass protein feed: Techniques have been developed to
avoid wastage of nutrients by feeding by-pass protein. Support should be
provided to establish by-pass protein production units particularly in
milksheds where high quality milch animals are maintained.
6.4.7.
Complete Feed Rations: To overcome nutritional imbalance in the field
and to facilitate small farmers and landless to maintain their livestock under
balanced feeding, decentralised complete feed units can be established.
6.4.8.
It is also necessary to create awareness among farmers to reduce their herd
size and ensure optimum feeding instead of keeping a large number of
underfed animals.
Considering the above situation, the following strategy can be adopted to
improve the feeding of livestock.
6.5. Post Production handling, processing and marketing of milk
6.5.1. Milk processing units should assume a prominent role in promoting breeding
services, input supply and health care provision, apart from collection of
milk.
6.5.2. Farmers should be trained in clean milk production
6.5.3. Mini dairies should be established in small towns where large dairies are
not feasible. This will ensure transparency and efficiency.
References
1.
Anon. 1996. National Livestock Policy Perspectives: Report of Steering Group.
Planning Commission, Government of India.
2. Anon. 2005. Annual Report 2004-2005. Department of Animal Husbandry and
Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. New Delhi.
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