Animal Husbandry: Success and Constraints

Context:

• Recent, regional Review Meeting for the Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector highlighted that the livestock sector is consistently  growing at a high Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.67% during 2014-15 to 2021-22.

More about the news:

• Changing diets and income: The growth is attributed to parameters of the Livestock Sector such as Dairy, Bovine, Poultry, Goatery/Piggery etc.
  • The increasing demand for animal products like meat, milk, and eggs, driven by higher incomes and changing diets, contributes to the attractiveness of livestock farming. 
• Reliable source of livelihood: Animal husbandry is becoming a more dependable source of livelihood for farmers compared to crop cultivation showing a higher growth rate than crop production, reflecting a transition in the agriculture sector. 
• Vagaries of climate change: The shift is due to climate change-related uncertainties that threaten crops, making animal farming a safer option. 
• Contribution to GVA: Livestock’s contribution to the gross value added(GVA) has risen, while crops’ share has decreased. 
  • The crops sub-sector which had accounted for 62.44 per cent of the agriculture and allied sectors in 2011-12, consistently declined to 55.33 per cent in 2021-2022. 
  • The GVA of the livestock sector increased steadily from 25.56 per cent in 2011-12 to 30.19 per cent in 2021-22.
• Primary means of sustenance: This trend suggests that livestock husbandry could replace crop farming as the primary agricultural focus. 
  • Even today, small farmers and landless individuals heavily rely on livestock for sustenance, with the dairy industry alone supporting millions of dairy farmers.
• Role in women empowerment: Women producers form the major workforce of the dairy sector in the country. The sector is an important job provider, especially for women, and plays a leading role in women’s empowerment. 
  • There were five million women members in dairy cooperatives in 2015-2016, and this increased further to 5.4 million in 2020-2021, accounting for 31 percent of total members. 

Overview of various animal husbandry sectors in India:

Challenges of Animal Husbandry:

• Low Productivity: The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50 per cent of the global average.
• Animal Diseases: The inadequate coverage of vaccination is continuously resulting in economic losses due to various animal diseases.
  • Average annual economic losses due to Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (HS), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Brucellosis, Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Classical Swine Fever were around Rs. 429 crores (2016).
• Shortage of Fodder:  India with only 2.29 percent of land area of the world is maintaining nearly 10.70 percent of livestock with only 5 percent of its cultivable land under fodder production.
• Institutional Support: There is no MSP support for animal husbandry product and they lack marketing like crop-based commodities.
  • Inadequate Funding at about 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors, which is disproportionately lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP. 
• Inadequate processing and value addition:  The processing rate of buffalo meat is around 21 percent and 6 percent for the poultry due to lack of necessary infrastructure.
• Informalisation of sector: The Indian livestock and livestock product market are mostly underdeveloped, irregular, uncertain, and lack transparency and often dominated by informal market intermediaries who exploit the producers.
  • Nearly 60 percent of milk is sold by the unorganized sector.
• Inadequate attention towards extension services: Except for poultry products and to some extent for milk, markets for livestock and livestock products are underdeveloped, irregular and lack transparency dominated by informal market intermediaries.

• Insurance: Currently, only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover.
• Greenhouse gas emissions: India’s huge population of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gasses emission. Reducing greenhouse gasses through mitigation and adaptation strategies will be a major challenge. 
  • Cattle in India account for approximately 33% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Way Forward:

• Establishment of gene banks:  Preserving indigenous breeds of livestock is crucial as they are disease resistant, adaptable to climate. Establishing gene banks aids research institutions in studying and conserving these breeds effectively.
• Strengthening forward and backward linkages: Forward linkages need to be developed for wool, fibre, meat and milk such as cold storage, food processing industries and textile industries for the consumption of livestock produced.
• One Health approach: . It promotes coordination between multiple stakeholders for strengthening and improving ecosystem health, and is crucial to promote animal health (both wild and domestic) alongside human health. 
  • One Health is an approach which recognizes that animal health, human health and the environment are inextricably connected.
• Cadre of wildlife-trained veterinarians: They will be veterinarians dedicated to monitoring wildlife health and treating wildlife diseases.
• Disease Surveillance: Surveillance for disease occurrence needs to be strengthened for livestock as well as wild animals to ensure that wild diseases do not cause outbreaks.
• Developing capacities of extension personnel on extension management: The livestock extension personnel need to have or acquire process competencies such as training methods, audio visual aids, data collection tools, etc.
• Area specific policy:  Area specific policies should be followed. For example, focus should be towards poultry in areas suitable for poultry production and towards fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas. 
• Women Inclusive Policies: Women-inclusive cooperatives and other producer’s associations or groups can improve women’s contribution in policy-making processes as well their bargaining power and access to inputs and markets. 
  • For example, National Smallholder Poultry Development Trust (NSPDT), facilitated by PRADAN, enables poor women in rural India to start and run successful poultry enterprises.

News Source: Business Standard