Livestock Sector in India

Livestock Sector in India

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) recently completed the Ceremony for the Distribution of Animal Breed Registration Certificates.
• To ensure the success of the agriculture and animal husbandry industries, the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister emphasised the necessity of identifying the numerous indigenous livestock breeds present in India.

About the livestock sector:

• Selective breeding and keeping livestock are considered to be parts of animal husbandry. The genetic characteristics and behaviour of animals are developed further for economic gain through management and care.
• An significant area of the Indian economy is the livestock industry. India has a tremendous resource of livestock. India is home to 56.7% of the world's buffaloes, 12.5% of cattle, 2.4% of the world's camels, and 3.1% of the world's chickens (2nd largest poultry market in the world).
• The sector of livestock accounts for 4.11% of the GDP and 25.6% of the GDP of all agriculture. Fast expansion in this industry may result in growth that is more inclusive and egalitarian. This is due to the fact that the majority of people involved are small landowners and landless farmers.

Note:

• The ICAR recently registered 10 new cattle breeds. As of January 2023, there are now 212 indigenous breeds in existence.
• The ten new breeds of domesticated livestock include the Kathani cattle (Maharashtra), Sanchori cattle (Rajasthan), and Masilum cattle (Meghalaya); the Purnathadi buffalo (Maharashtra); the Sojat goat (Rajasthan), Karauli goat (Rajasthan), and Gujari goat (Rajasthan); the Banda pig (Jharkhand); the Manipuri Black pig (Meghalaya).

Role of livestock in the economy:

• Employment: Due to their low literacy and lack of skills, a huge portion of India's population relies on agriculture to support themselves. About 8.8% of the population of India is employed by it. For the purpose of employing their labour during the lean agricultural season, the landless and those with little land depend on cattle.
• Food: The livestock owners' family members rely heavily on the milk, meat, and eggs produced by their animals as a source of animal protein. In 2017–18, milk availability per person was approximately 375 g/day, and egg availability was 74 per year.
• Gender equity: Keeping animals fosters gender parity. Women provide more than 75% of the labour needed to produce livestock. In Punjab and Haryana, where dairying is a key activity and animals are fed in stalls, the percentage of women employed in the livestock sector is approximately 90%.
• Livestock is the best form of insurance against calamities like famine, drought, and other natural calamities. The vast majority of cattle operations are in marginal or small-scale properties. Moreover, livestock give significant organic manure to agricultural productions.

Contribution of Livestock to the Indian Economy:

• From 2014–15 to 2020–21 (at constant prices), the livestock industry grew at a CAGR of 7.9%, and from 2020–21, it contributed 30.1% more to the country's total agricultural GVA than it did in 2014–15.

• Livestock are not only economically advantageous and a reliable source of food and income for homes, but they also give rural families a job, act as insurance in the event of crop failures, and the quantity of livestock a farmer owns determines his or her social standing in the neighbourhood.
• The largest single agricultural product in India is milk. It directly employs 80 million dairy farmers and has a 5% contribution to the national economy.

Challenges faced by the Livestock sector in India:

• Diseases: Frequent outbreaks of illnesses like Black Quarter infection, influenza, and Foot and Mouth Disease continue to have a negative impact on the health and productivity of livestock.
• Greenhouse Gases: The enormous population of ruminants in India adds to the generation of greenhouse gases. It will be extremely difficult to reduce greenhouse gases through mitigation and adaptation measures.
• Loss of local breeds: Only a small portion of attempts to cross-breed native species with foreign stocks in order to improve the genetic potential of various species have been effective.
• The main obstacles have been the limited availability of artificial insemination services due to a lack of high-quality germplasm, infrastructure, and technical manpower, as well as a low rate of conception after artificial insemination.
• Reduced credit: Compared to its contribution to agricultural GDP, the sector only got roughly 12% of the overall state spending on agriculture and related industries. Financial institutions have ignored the sector.
• Lack of Transparency: The majority of the cattle in the nation is still undeclared. Moreover, the markets for animal products in India are frequently dominated by unofficial market middlemen, are immature, unclear, and lack transparency.

Significant Governmental Initiatives:

• Rashtriya Gokul Mission: It attempts to promote and protect native breeds of cattle. This is necessary to increase milk output and increase the farmers' income.
• The National Livestock Mission seeks to strengthen the capacities of all stakeholders while ensuring quantitative and qualitative improvements in livestock production systems.
• The National Artificial Insemination Program's goal is to recommend creative approaches for impregnating female breeds. Moreover, to stop the spread of several genital infections in order to improve the breed's effectiveness.
• National Cattle and Buffalo Breeding Project: Prioritize genetic improvement of significant indigenous breeds with an eye towards development and conservation.
• Great Challenge for Startups in Animal Husbandry: to recognise initiatives from the countryside that would help India's dairy industry grow.
• LH&DC (Livestock Health and Disease Control) Program: It is being adopted to support the State/UT governments' attempts to use vaccination to prevent, control, and contain animal diseases that are significant from an economic and zoonotic standpoint.
• NADCP: National Animal Disease Control Program By totally immunising populations of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs against foot-and-mouth disease and bovine female calves between the ages of 4 and 8 months against brucellosis, it is being applied to manage both diseases.

Measures to promote Livestock sector in India:

• Resources: To boost the productivity of livestock husbandry in India's rain-shadow region, it is vital to provide enough fodder and drinking water.
• Marketing: Trade policies like marketing need to be more effective in order to promote a variety of livestock products, such as eggs, fish, and milk, and to give farmers a fair price by limiting the influence of middlemen.
• Training: Farmers who choose to undertake livestock rearing as a secondary source of income must receive the necessary training and subsidies.
• Research and development: The government should concentrate on the livestock industry's R&D to boost livestock productivity and benefit small and marginal farmers more.
• Veterinary Ambulance Service and Mandatory Cattle Vaccination: Ambulance services in veterinary facilities should be increased in order to offer injured animals rapid primary care.
• Moreover, frequent veterinary surveillance should be carried out in a time-bound manner, and primary livestock immunisation should be made mandatory.