Livestock Integrated Farming is Livelihood in Parched Lands
Suryapal Singh1, Harshita Singh2 and Sajjan Singh3
1Guest Faculty, Shri Vishawkarma Skill University Dhudhola Palwal Haryana
2Ph D Scholar, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University Hisar
3Principal Scientist, Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar
COVID19 has confirmed the statement of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru at the time of gaining our independence “Everything else can wait, but not agriculture” this profound truth is yet to be converted into concrete policies and action on adequate scale. Indian agriculture is at cross roads. In the prevailing atmosphere of gloom and doom there are many bright spots—farmers with access to adequate land, water, capital and technology are doing very well in areas like horticulture and animal husbandry and are demonstrating the strengths of Indian agriculture, arising from abundant sunshine and rich diversity of agro-ecological and agro-climatic conditions. India shares 2.4% of total geographical area and support 17.5% population with 15% livestock. Arid and semi-arid lands refer to those parts of the world where rainfall is insufficient or barely sufficient for crop growth. Arid lands in tropics refer to areas receiving between 25-200mm; semi-arid lands refer to areas between 200-800 mm annual rainfalls. Evaporation and evotranspiration with very low productivity is identity of this area. These conditions create very harsh environments for crops, human and livestock.
Our agriculture is becoming gamble both in monsoon and market. In the rain fed areas it is too risky to adopt expensive technologies. Small farmers who take loans for cultivation expenses have no coping capacity to meet the calamity of crop failure. Traditional and area specific crops should once again be revived. The funds allocated and allotted should be used to promote local crop varieties. Organic farming and crop livestock integration should be promoted on both ecological and economical grounds. Over 60% of the population depends on crop and animal husbandry, in land and marine fisheries, forestry and ago processing for their livelihood. Agriculture, as the largest private enterprise in India (more than 10 crore farm holdings), has been and will continue to be the life line of Indian economy at least foreseeable future. It contributes nearly 17 % to national GDP, sustains livelihood for two-third of population accounts for 52% national work force and forms the backbone of agro based industry. The contribution of agriculture to nation’s security at the time of economic sanction and in strengthening the national sovereignty is well recognised. The Nehru period (1947-64) was marked by the emphasis on irrigation, power generation and production of mineral fertilizers, chemical pesticides, community development and strengthening of agricultural education. Over 60% of our cultivated area is still rain fed the yield gap analysis for rain fed crops in India as studied by ICRISAT reported that productivity of the crops in the rain fed area can be increased to approximately 2.5 times their current level of productivity. Supplemental irrigation using harvested rain water would further increase these yields. This can be accomplished by
1. Achieve convergence and synergy among numerous on-going programs
2. Adopt a holistic “seed to consumer” approach
3. Establishment participatory action research-cum-demonstration trials
4. Ensure availability of quality inputs in a timely manner
5. Access and improve soil health
6. Identify high yielding cultivars
7. Establish village seed and food banks
8. Establish agri-clinics and agri-business centres
9. Ensure procurement by providing an attractive procurement price In a predominantly agricultural country like ours there is need to intensify our efforts in improving our agricultural productivity, quality and income which can be achieved by strengthening of institutional structures which can help the small and marginal farmers’ particularly in drylands. The farmers can adopt dairy through cooperatives, poultry the egg coordination council, integrated on- farm and off-farm employment through bio villages, power of scale to small producers through small farmers agri-business consortium, technological upgrading of production and post-harvest sector through agri-clinics and agri-business centres, timely and affordable credit through kisan credit card integrated informal and formal banking systems, operation of minimum support price through FCI and SFC and contract farming. Dry farming in rainfed areas are neglected. The various technology missions that are supposed to help farmers appear to be ineffective and inactive. There must be convergence of technology missions so that dry land farmers can derive integrated support. If we talk about agriculture out of 328 mha geographical area of India 187 mha is degraded land and only 76 mha is irrigated with cropping intensity of 135%. The state with highest geographical area is Rajasthan followed by MP are having rainfed areas to a great extent. Creating infrastructure and irrigation facilities will help increased agriculture production and fodder for its livestock which is strength of draught hit areas and ensures sustainability and food security to family during lean period. Dryland farming is evolved as a set of techniques and management practices used by farmers to continually adapt to the presence or lack of moisture in a given crop cycle. In marginal regions a farmer should be financially able to survive occasionally crop failures, perhaps several years in succession. Survivals in dryland farmers require careful husbandry of moisture available for the crop and aggressive management of expenses to minimize losses in poor years. Over the period of time the farmers have learnt from nature and experience. Dry land farmers know that to be financially successful they have to be aggressive during the good years in order to offset dry years. Farmers in Rajsthan successfully achieved twin objectives of profitability and livelihood security by growing combinations of fruits and crops due to interventions in agriculture and horticulture fields. National Research Institutes and Agricultural universities are working day in and day out to improve the condition of farmers through extension of technologies developed particularly for the dry lands.
Livestock rearing is one of the major occupations in India and is making significant contribution to the country’s GDP. The livestock population, over the years, has shown a steady growth on broadly two counts i.e. (i) increase in the number of stall feeding based bovine livestock viz. buffaloes and hybrid cattle, and (ii) increase in the number of free grazing based livestock like goats and sheep that can survive on the fast degrading pasturage. The first category of livestock growth pertains to the people with arable land and resources to grow or procure fodder, and forms a good source of additional income for them. The second category of livestock growth on the other hand pertains to millions of resource-starved households – landless pastoralists and marginal farmers – for whom livestock rearing often forms the only one and most critical source of food and cash income. The animal husbandry sector has a good growth potential. However, further growth of the sector will be as much dependent upon the availability of fodder as it will be dependent upon the breed improvement programs. Whereas Animal Husbandry departments and various research institutes in the country are engaged in improving the breeds of livestock, it is the issues related to fodder that are a cause of concern. The available data reveals that the present fodder availability in the country is well below requirement. The data also reveals that only about half of the annual fodder requirement is met from the cultivated fodder and crop residues, whereas open grazing and fodder availability from common property resources like forests, pastures, village commons, etc. fulfils the remaining half of the annual fodder requirement. The issue to be taken note of is that it is the open grazing and fodder availability from the common property resources that provides sustenance to a vast majority of households with animal husbandry as the only vocation. In view of the large number of resource-poor households dependent upon open grazing for their livestock, it is neither desirable nor possible to simply wish away open grazing. Similarly, with increasing demands of food grains on the available arable land resources, the opportunity cost to divert cultivable land for fodder production in a big way might be very high. The only plausible option, therefore, is to revitalize the degrading common fodder and pasture resources in the country and improve their productivity.
Livestock rearing in India provides manure, draught power for agriculture and local transportation and forms important source of food and cash income to millions of households spread across various parts of the country. Livestock sector can be appreciated from the fact that it contributes to National GDP significantly. The sector assumes still higher significance as it forms the most critical means of supporting the earning capacity of landless pastoralists and those of marginal and small farmers, especially those living in drought-prone, hilly, tribal and such other areas where crop production, dependent mainly upon vagaries of nature, is not certain. Closer scrutiny of the sector, however, reveals that the contribution to the GDP by livestock sector is far too low for such a large size of livestock population. This low productivity of the sector is as much attributable to underfeeding of the livestock as it is attributable to the poor livestock breeds. An idea of the meagre fodder availability can be had from the fact that about 50% of the cattle population, depending largely upon free rangeland grazing in forests, pastures, village commons and the like, end up getting only about 1.5 kg of dry fodder/ day/ ACU (Adult Cattle Unit) as against the healthy fodder requirement norm of 3% body weight. In absolute terms, the country is, by 2020, facing an estimated shortage of 728 million tons of green fodder and 157 million tons of dry fodder. Obviously, this low forage availability impacts the productivity. The increasing cattle population, due partly to the animal husbandry policies, without corresponding attention towards enhancing the forage production, is likely to put further pressure on the already scarce fodder resources in the country causing further depletion in productivity of the sector.
In arid and semi-arid regions where crop failures and draught are frequent dependency on livestock increases. Most people depend on the sale of livestock products like milk, meat and hide and livestock itself for their livelihood. Livestock is the main source of food and people different species that cope well with harsh dry environment. The most common and well adapted and acclimatized livestock in these regions are breeds of sheep, goats, camels, cows and donkeys as per the necessity and purpose to rear these animals. Very interestingly the vegetation of desert is species specific. Different animals feed on different plants so they use the existing vegetation in a more balanced way some of them are browsers (goats, donkeys and camels) and others are grazers (sheep and cow). The desert specific species of plants and animals develop special qualities. They become heat tolerant by adapting and changing their physiology. Sheep wool becomes hairy to release more heat than wool. Large sized pinna in donkey superficial venation is a heat loss mechanism of this hardy species frequently seen on work in extreme heat condition. Coat colour becomes light to reduce heat stress as the sun is very bright in dry lands. Water retention mechanism is developed physiologically. The cortex of kidney and tubular size increase to retain the water in camel. Urine becomes highly viscous and concentrated due to recycling of water in water deficit areas. To meet the emergency needs of body animal store food at different locations in body e.g. camel develops hump and sheep stores fat in tail to evade difficulty of food. Goats and camels cover a large area for food. Donkey and camels develop strong teeth to eat thorny bushes. The digestive system can digest the poor quality roughages and are efficient converters.
Role of Livestock in economy of dry land inhabitants:
The livestock plays an important role in the economy of farmers. The farmers in India maintain mixed farming system i.e. a combination of crop and livestock where the output of one enterprise becomes the input of another enterprise thereby realize the resource efficiency. The livestock serve the farmers in different ways.
Draft:
Draught animals play a dominant role in our rural economy. The draught power of our 83 million draught animals is estimated at equivalent to 30,000 MW in terms of electric power, equivalent to half the present generation capacity of India. In terms of energy, it is equivalent to 50,000 million units worth Rs. 10,000 crore. At present draught animals are being used to plough around 100 million hectares of farm land in India, which forms 60 per cent of total cultivable area, (transport 25,000 million tom Km of freight per year saving 6 million ton of diesel worth Rs. 4,000 crore annually). Although an increasing mechanization is replacing the animal power in the villages, reducing the total DAP, yet India has to depend on animal energy for many years to come from agricultural operations and transport of farm produce. Camel is known as ship of desert as it was the major transporting animal before the construction of roads and mechanization. Indira Gandhi canal known as lifeline of desert came in existence due to camel otherwise draft would have been very difficult in sandy dunes of Rajasthan. The bullocks are the back bone of Indian agriculture. The farmers especially the marginal and small depend upon bullocks for ploughing, carting and transport of both inputs and outputs. Equines are also played a good role when horses used to be the pride of rich “ saahi syano sokat” poor donkey carted the load. Donkey carting is common sight in Churu and Jhunjhanu districts of Rajasthan. I had the opportunity to serve in the Research institutes and experienced working with ship of desert to sheep that are playing major role in the economy of desert.
Dung:
In rural areas dung is used for several purposes which include fuel (dung cakes), fertilizer (farm yard manure), and plastering material (poor man’s cement). Soil carbon contents are at fast depletion and are killing the soul of soil i.e. fertility. Desert is rich in livestock population and hence the soil health is still good but productivity is low due to scanty rainfalls. Dung and other animal wastes serve as very good farm yard manure and the value of it is worth several crores of rupees. In addition it is also used as fuel (bio gas, dung cakes), and for construction as poor man’s cement (dung). “Kuchha” houses are maintained and kept clean and hygienic using cow dung in desert.
Fibre and skins:
The livestock also contributes to the production of wool, hair, hides, and pelts. Leather is the most important product which has a very high export potential. India is producing about 47.9 million Kg of wool per annum.
Employment:
A large number of people in India being less literate and unskilled depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods. But agriculture being seasonal in nature could provide employment for a maximum of 180 days in a year. The land less and less land people depend upon livestock for utilizing their labour during lean agricultural season. More than 68 % (data varies from author to author) population in our country is directly or indirectly involved in agriculture but hardly earning to meet their both ends. Youths are walking away from agriculture. Government initiative to retain the youths in agriculture is yet to bear fruits.
Food:
The livestock products such as milk, meat and eggs are an important source of animal protein to the members of the livestock owners. The livestock provides food items such as Milk, Meat and Eggs for human consumption. India is number one milk producer in the world. It is producing about 156 million tons of milk in a year (2015-16). Similarly it is producing about 74.75 billion of eggs, 8.89 million tonnes of meat in a year. The value of milk group and meat group at current prices was Rs 4, 06,035 crores in 2013-14.Crop failure due to frequently encountered draughts creates famine like conditions. Here comes livestock to rescue the innocent and poor farmers. Although there is great loss of life of livestock due to non-availability of food and water but still they manage their owners to evade suicide by provide food and income.
Income:
Livestock is a source of subsidiary income for many families in India especially the resource poor who maintain few heads of animals. Cows and buffaloes if in milk will provide regular income to the livestock farmers through sale of milk. Animals like sheep and goat serve as sources of income during emergencies to meet exigencies like marriages, treatment of sick persons, children education, repair of houses etc. The animals also serve as moving banks and assets which provide economic security to the owners.
Weed control:
Livestock are also used as Biological control of brush, plants and weeds. Camel ploughing is preferred between the rows to weed out the crop as soft footpad does not damage crops.
Social security:
The animals offer social security to the owners in terms of their status in the society. The families especially the landless which own animals are better placed than those who do not. Gifting of animals during marriages is a very common phenomenon in different parts of the country. Rearing of animals is a part of the Indian culture. Animals are used for various socio religious functions. Cows for house warming ceremonies; rams, bucks and chicken for sacrifice during festive seasons; Bulls and Cows are worshipped during various religious functions. Many owners develop attachment to their animals.
Sports-recreation:
People also use the animals like cocks, rams, bulls etc for competition and sports. Despite ban on these animal competitions the cock fights, ram fights and bull fights (jalli kattu) are quite common during festive seasons. Internationally famous Camel Festival is celebrated by Tourist Department of Rajasthan attracting a large number of home and foreign tourists. This not only helps promote tourism for earning forex for country but livelihood for locals and recreation. Pushkar and other cattle fairs are popular in desert.
Companion animals:
Dogs are known for their faithfulness and are being used as companions since time immemorial. When the nuclear families are increasing in number and the old parents are forced to lead solitary life the dogs, cats are providing the needed company to the latter thus making them lead a comfortable life.
Challenges to be faced:
Changing climate is adversely affecting both animal and agriculture production. Some ameliorating measures needs to be taken to maintain the production level rather to enhance the production to meet the National projected demands. Some of them are:
Housing of Animals:
Desert is known for its extreme weather conditions. Temperature varies from minus to approaching 50 degree Celsius. To maintain the production level in these harsh conditions is a major challenge. To provide physiological comfort zone if not the zone the thermo neutrality becomes necessity for animal to maintain optimal level of production. We need to create cost effective and durable housing structure in desert area. Wind storms are frequent and common in these areas so the animal houses needs to be designed in such a way that there is least discomfort to the animals. Presently we are lacking the housing systems for desert animals.
Diseases:
Frequent outbreaks of diseases like FMD, BQ, PPR, Influenza etc. continue to affect livestock health and productivity. India has about 55000 veterinary institutions including poly clinics, hospitals, dispensaries and stockman centers. Veterinary and animal health services are largely in the public sector domain and remain poor. Animal health was found to be an area where a lot of improvement is needed. It is the only cash surety with the farmers in the hour of need. In the incidence of disease, mostly veterinary care is not available and the farmers have to depend on traditional methods as well as to seek the advice of spiritual leaders. Animal health was found to be an area where a lot of improvement is needed. It is the only cash surety with the farmers in the hour of need. In the incidence of disease, mostly veterinary care is not available and the farmers have to depend on traditional methods as well as to seek the advice of spiritual leaders. Mortality rates in the event of disease were found to be quite high in case of sheep, goat and donkeys as compared to other animals. However, their facility has not yet extended in the distant areas of the desert.
Low Productivity:
Improving productivity in a huge population of low-producing animals is one of the major challenges. The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50% of the global average4, and much less than in New Zealand (3343 kg), Australia (5600 kg), UK (7101 kg), US (9332 kg) and Israel (10214 kg). Likewise the meat yield of most species is 20-60% lower than the world average. Cows and sheep/goat were the main milk producing animals. When there was ample of grass available in the ranges cows produced almost double milk than that was produced in the deficit period. The pattern was of low to light milk yield with respect to rainfall zones. Similar pattern was found in the milk yield produced by sheep/goat.
Insurance:
Livestock sector did not receive the policy and financial attention it deserved. The sector received only about 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors, which is disproportionately lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP. The sector too has been neglected by the financial institutions. The share of livestock in the total agricultural credit has hardly ever exceeded 4% in the total (short-term, medium-term and long-term). The institutional mechanisms to protect animals against risk are not strong enough. Currently, only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover. Livestock extension has remained grossly neglected in the past. Only about 5% of the farm households in India access information on livestock technology. These indicate an apathetic outreach of the financial and information delivery systems.
Livestock derive major part of their energy requirement from agricultural byproducts and residues. Hardly 5% of the cropped area is utilized to grow fodder. India is deficit in dry fodder by 11%, green fodder by 35% and concentrates feed by 28% which aggravate due to draught. The common grazing lands too have been deteriorating quantitatively and qualitatively. Though meeting human needs is of immediate priority during drought, but saving the livestock is also great concern because of the economic benefits that livestock can provide in times when agriculture fails. Inadequate availability of good quality fodder is the major limitation in further development of the animal husbandry sector in the country. India has vast tracts of grazing and, most of which has fragmented or become degraded due to lack of appropriate policy interventions and management inputs. Pastoralism and nomadism are important land use systems with a high degree of dependence on browse trees for livestock production especially in dry season.
Migration behaviour:
In the dry period which normally starts from the month of December and January unless there is a very good year (meaning abundant rains), farmers of the Thar Desert start a temporary migration to the areas in the interior Sindh in search food for their livestock.
Migration:
Usually their migration involves male family members who take along their livestock herd and look after the dry period in the irrigated areas. But sometimes, this migration involves all the family members moving along with their children and livestock for the same period and travels long distances (i.e., more than 200km). Although their return to Thar depends upon the rainfall, however an overwhelming majority (85 per cent) reported that they are back by June, July and August. While migrating, the farmers have to travel long distance to reach the places where they can find food and feed for themselves as well as for their livestock.
Conclusion:
Livestock production is the dominant activity of the desert economy. It plays an important role by ensuring subsistence and security against crop failures under drought conditions. Animal diseases are common problem in Thar majority of 84 per cent reported that no veterinary personnel have visited the villages. The animal mortality rate was reported to be very high. Farmers are crying for lifesaving support today and not just schemes which may fructify a few years later. India’s future lies in becoming a strong, vibrant and prosperous agriculture nation. This can be achieved through synergy between appropriate technologies and public policies but we are deficit. Our first task is to remove this deficit and promote the convergence of technology, public policy and services leading to self-sufficient, supporting and strong agriculture and farmers in India. Nonetheless, there are number of socio-economic and environmental challenges that need to be overcome through appropriate policies, technologies and strategies in order to harness the pro-poor potential of livestock.
References:
1.https://www.elsevier.com/books/agriculture-in-dry-lands/arnon/978-0-444-88912-6
2.https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/books/abstracts/agronomymonogra/drylandagricult/1?access=0&view=pdf
3.https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/books/abstracts/agronomymonogra/drylandagricult/1?access=0&view=pdf
4.http://cropsfordrylands.com/wp-content/uploads/Dryland-Farming-Crops-Tech-for-Arid-Regions.pdf
5.http://animalhusbandry.rajasthan.gov.in/
6.https://www.roysfarm.com/buffalo-farming/
