How to increase the income of livestock farmers in India

How to increase the income of livestock farmers in India

Dr. Gunjan Sharma, BVSc & AH, MVSc Scholar in Animal Nutrition, Dr. G.C. Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishwavidhyalaya, Palampur, H.P, E-mail; nikki.gunjan16@gmail.com

Introduction –

Animal husbandry has played an important role in strengthening of India’s rural economy. It is an integral component of Indian agriculture supporting livelihood for more than two-thirds of the Indian rural populations. It requires less capital and the management and production expenses are low as compared to agriculture. Dairying is considered to be a profitable enterprise which gives income throughout the year, the farmers become familiar to spend more time on animal husbandry practices, and obtain the triple benefits of supplementary income, productive employment and nutritive food for family labour. It is the principal source of draught power in rural areas and provides milk, meat, hides and skins, manure and fuel. As India entered into an era of economic reforms, agriculture, particularly the livestock sector, and dairying are positioned to be major growth areas. Livestock sector contributes about 4.1 percent to the Gross Domestic Product and 25 percent to the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product and still growing due to population expansion and rapid urbanization. About 70% of livestock population in India is owned by landless and marginal farmers. So, the efforts should be aimed at grass root level to improve the knowledge, attitude, skill and livelihood of livestock farmers and new models must be developed to face emerging challenges in livestock farming and to increase income of farmers.

Livestock population (2019 census) –

Production of livestock in India during 2017-18 –

Average milk yield per day of different breeds during 2017-18 –

Source: Annual Report 2018-19, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India.

Constraints of livestock farming in India –

Improving the livestock productivity is still a major concern because despite of having world’s highest livestock owner the milk productivity is still half of the global average. Low productive breeds and stray cattle is one of the major problems. Cross breeding programme for increasing genetic potential of indigenous livestock is running from 3 decades still satisfactory results are not achieved, only 16% of cattle population is cross bred. Poor artificial insemination services are resulting in lower quality of germplasm and thus leading to poor rate of service per conception and service period. Frequent disease outbreak of FMD, Influenza, black quarter, incidences of brucellosis and mastitis significantly reduce income of livestock owners. Interference of middle man in marketing of livestock and their products results in low income generation for livestock owners. Livestock sector also did not get much attention from policy makers and financial institution and credit availability for livestock farmers is very inadequate. Feeding of livestock is much larger concern, India is deficient in dry fodder as well as green fodder, only 5% of agricultural land is being used for fodder production. Extension services are poor and due to this livestock farmers are still using traditional practices to raise livestock and adoption of scientific practices is limited only to the commercialised farms. Insurance coverage of livestock is up to a very limited extent and condition of slaughter houses is also very poor.

Status of livestock farmer’s income in India –

Livestock farming provides additional income to farmers and employment for family members and provides round the year generation of livelihood. Livestock contributed about 16% to their income, more so in states like Gujarat (24.4%), Haryana (24.2%), Punjab (20.2%) and Bihar (18.7%) (Planning Commission, 2012). NSSO had conducted nationwide survey to estimate the household income of farmers in 2003 and 2013 known as ‘Situation Assessment Survey’. Real income of livestock farmers showed a growth of 5.24% during this period which was calculated on the basis of GDP deflator.

Value of livestock products in India –

Source; Government of India, 2014

Strategies for Income Enhancement –

There are many ways to increase the income of livestock farmers. Some of which are;

1. Improvement of low-productive breeds – Production of indigenous cattle is very low as compared to exotic cattle. So, breed improvement is of utmost importance. But AI coverage of cattle and buffalo is only 35%. So, to increase genetic potential of indigenous cattle insemination with good quality semen is very important. For which we will require 160 million of semen straws against current availability of 81 million to reach that level. And distribution of bulls can be done at places where AI facility is not available.
2. Improved animal husbandry extension network all over the country – For dissemination of improved technologies and scientific knowledge of livestock rearing. Extension programme must be well implemented which should organize training camps, field visits, veterinary camps etc. For this establishments of KVKs can be very helpful. Public-Private-Partnership must be promoted to improve extension at grass root level.
3. Establishment of proper marketing structure – Infrastructure creation in marketing channels, transport and storage is very essential to fetch good price for livestock products. Less involvement of middle man in market chain will increase profit for livestock farmer. Livestock fairs must be organized and farmers should be motivated to sell their livestock on online platforms like pashubazar launched by Telangana government. Building cooperative organizations such as AMUL and URMUL can be very helpful for small farmers in rural areas. Beside this contract farming between livestock farmers and agribusiness firms can assure regular income and insurance to the farmer.
4. Improvement in feeding practices – Cultivation of fodder crops must be promoted and farmers should understand importance of scientific and balanced feeding. Practices like urea treatment of straw, mineral mixture feeding, azolla production, feeding of unconventional feeds etc. must be promoted. Fodder bank must be established in every district in case of scarcity of fodder.
5. Establishment of financial institution, credit availability and subsidy disbursement – Livestock sector can only grow if farmers have sufficient inputs to gain maximum production. For this credit availability is must. For increasing farmers’ income, funds are needed at institutional level as well as at enterprise level, for which a robust institutional credit flow mechanism is a must. Efforts should be targeted to empower farmers through infrastructure development in rural areas to promote agribusiness, food processing, dairy, poultry, fisheries and enterprises etc. MSP should also be fixed for livestock products.
6. Government policies – Policy makers should pay proper attention towards animal husbandry sector, and bold decisions must be taken to ensure livelihood of farmer. Like MSP should be fixed for livestock products. National dairy plan must be implemented as national plan. Policies should attract private sector to invest in animal husbandry. Public spending in the livestock sector as a proportion of the value of the sector’s output has fallen considerably over the last two decades So, policies should attract private sector to invest in animal husbandry.
7. Healthcare management – Vaccination and deworming of livestock should be promoted. Veterinary services should be available at farmer’s doorstep. Plans like National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) should be promoted, which aims at eradicating Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and brucellosis in livestock, it aims to vaccinate over 500 million livestock heads, including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs, against FMD, and some 36 million female bovine calves annually against brucellosis.
8. Promotion of value addition and good quality livestock products – Value addition of livestock products can substantially increase the price of products. For this processing units must be established and training must be given to farmers for on farm value addition. Awareness should be spread regarding safety of livestock products. For this establishment of food testing laboratories accredited by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to check adulteration must be done.
9. Information communication technology should be promoted – Information technology can be helpful in accessing to large markets, better price discovery and, above all, transparency.
10. Integrated farming systems – Integration of different livestock components with crop can increase the productivity of per unit land in case of small farmers. It can produce diversified products and can provide year-round income and employment and also ensures food safety.

Conclusion – Low Income of livestock farmers and fluctuation is a major concern and main cause of distress because 70% of rural population is depend on livestock for livelihood generation. Efforts must be aimed to increase the farmers income through livestock restructuring livestock processes such as breeding, feeding, management, healthcare, marketing & policy interventions.  Basic principle of increasing income is by improving productivity along with stabilizing income and risk management through holistic approach.

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