How to increase the income of livestock farmers in India
Debajyoti Sarkar, Ph.D. Scholar, Animal Reproduction Gynaecology and Obstetrics, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute –Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal- 741235
Abstract:
India ranked in top 10 in animal resources, import – export of various agricultural products and by-products in the world. Even after achieving these goals, still farmers are unable to generate expected level of income from the animal husbandry sector. Extension workers can find out lacunas to fill up those gaps. Farmers always need experts’ suggestion to get solution for the problems in the process of animal rearing. Extension worker can easily discover opportunities within the village regarding animal husbandry, provide encouragement and confidence to farmers to extend, improve their herd and herd health, develop farm specific breeding policies, arrange veterinary services to them, advice them for getting financial support best possible resources, encourage to join different models of organization such as PPP model. Governments can help farmers by establishing markets with strong monitoring power; arrange training programme and testing facilities to check quality of raw products and by-products produced by farmers, encourage and advertisement of an exemplary farmers in village, district and national level and provide awards. Higher quality seeks higher price and quality products developed from the framers definitely get higher price and ultimately farmer income can be doubled.
Key words: Extension, Financial support, Quality, Income,
Introduction:
India is known for its biological diversity in the world. The population of various species of domesticated animals in India according to the 20th livestock census are as follows. India ranks 1st in Buffalo (109.85 million), 2nd in Cattle (192.49 million) and 2nd in Goat (148.88 million), 3rd in Sheep (74.26 million), 2nd in Pigs (9.06 in million), 8th in duck production and 10th in camel production (0.3 in million). There is a hike in the livestock population by 4.60 per cent (512.06 million) since 2012, 19th livestock census to 535.8 million in 2019, 20th livestock census. Total poultry in the country is 851.81 million (5th in the world) in 2019 with 317.07 million consisting of backyard poultry in the country. The growth rate of the GDP in 2019-20 in agriculture sector is 4.0 per cent while the Indian economy grew by 4.2% against 6.1% expansion in 2018-19. It is showing the way for a more aggressive rearing of the livestock animals in the country
India also ranks 1st in Milk, 2nd in Egg, 2nd in leather and 5th in poultry meat production. The milk production has reached to 187.75 Million Tonnes with a growth rate 6.5% from the previous years. The average yield of the crossbred animal reached 7.95 kg/day while in the non descriptive animals is 3.01 kg/day. It is showing a tremendous improvement in milk production i.e., 8.7% and 5.7% in both crossbred and non-descriptive cattle and 6.4% in buffalo respectively. The average highest milk producing state is Punjab with highest per capita availability of milk 1181g/head/day while the national per capita availability is 394g/ day /person. The largest milk producing state i.e., 16.3% is UP while highest growth in milk production is observed in Karnataka 10.7% milk.
India produces 103.32 Billion numbers of eggs and out of that 18.41 Billion (17.8%) comes from the backyard poultry farming. Egg production increased by 8.5% and Andra Pradesh alone produces 19.1% of total eggs. Per capita availability of egg is 79 eggs per annum. India produces around 12.9% of the world’s leather production of hides/skins. The annual production of leather in India is about 3 Billion sq. ft. of leather. The country accounts for 9% of the world’s footwear production. Even after having huge animal resources we are lacking behind the achievements of certain countries even though we have the cheapest availability of man power resources after china. Here, we have discussed certain lacuna where we need to focus and improve, we can definitely cross rest of the countries within next few years.
Discovering the problems:
In a village, there might be various problems which are hindering the growth of animal husbandry. There might be solutions which are hidden within that place and need expert’s exploration and address the solutions to the farmers. A village might not be suitable for duck farming due to lack of the water lodging area or water resources while it is opens the window for poultry farming or broiler farming. One village might have difficulty in arranging animal resources while the same resources are abundant in the neighbouring villages. This imbalance creates the oppurtunity of big market for that product. These constraints can be converted to opportunities and should be addressed to the farmers regarding it. Thus exploring the problems can guide us to open the window for new way of generating income. Conclusively we can say that “Problems comes before the opportunity”. Problems of a one village can be a jackpot for another village. We just need to connect those jingles and there would be magical growth in the farming status.
Encouragement for commercial farming:
Even after the Operation flood in the field of dairy sector there is a very limited growth in animal husbandry especially in dairy sector including other animal species. One of the main reasons is lack of encouragement and support to the farmers for rearing farm animals and poultry for the production of milk, meat, wool, egg. There are very few number of dairy farms in India with large number of cattle, instead people rear only 1 to 5 animals and small scale farm limiting 10-50 animal while a very few farms with more than 100 to 1000 or more animals. Similarly in case of small ruminants and poultry, farmers have small sized livestock. All ventures should be extended to increase the production of subsequently meat, wool and eggs to get maximum profit. We need to find out the educated and progressive farmers interested in expansion of farms (Ruminants or poultry) in the village. Little encouragement within the farmers of the village level leads to milk flow which brings another white revolution, increases in the meat, eggs and wool production in India,
Improvement the animal management practices:
In India, assurance of feed and fodder is very crucial due to its climatic features. The cost of feed comprises 70% of the production cost. The fluctuation in price of the feed ingredients also affects the production cost. Here, farmer can reduce the feed cost by growing feed and fodder at local level jointly engaging with farmers.
The housing should control the thermal stress to maintain the general health status of the animals. Use of proper breeding protocols can save 3,000-5,000 rupees/animal/ missed oestrus cycle. Need to incorporate the insurance policies which cover the security of life and investment upon the animal both. Encourage farmers to join with the National Animal Disease Control Program aimed to control and eradicate diseases like foot and mouth diseases and brucellosis in livestock by 2030.
Veterinary facility at door level
In India, 25,571 Veterinary Hospitals/ Poly Clinics, 28,168 Veterinary AI centres, and 12,076 Veterinary Hospitals are available. Within this facilities 75.78 Million Artificial Inseminations has been done in the year 2018-19. On the context of 19th livestock census there was a requirement of 1.1 to 1.2 Lakh veterinary doctors when population size of animal was 512.10 million with 63,000 registered veterinarians are available as per the Veterinary Council of India. One vet is treating approx. 8,128 animals while as per the norms the ratio of doctor to animal should be below 1:5000. Here, it displays the hard work of veterinarians to improve the production and productivity even with lack of medicine and instruments. A soldier without weapon is helpless is similar to a doctor without medicine and manpower. People are having lack of knowledge regarding the differences between a veterinarian vs. a technician. Human never goes to nurse or compounder for medical support because people are aware of the quality of service provided by them. Once the animal is not treated well the animal is going to lose its productivity for its entire productive life.
A veterinarian can easily connect with the progressive farmer because they share the required and adequate information and knowledge to them. Usually, the farmer seeks help during the period of problems in their herd. Due to the lack of veterinarians in the field, we are lagging behind in providing information and knowledge to the progressive farmers that are highly enthusiastic regarding farming. Ultimately farmers are losing their interest in farming and at the same time we are losing the scope to improve the financial status of a farmer, village and country.
Financial support:
Financial support is the main boon of an establishment, without it all ventures get failed. In villages majority of farmers have below medium class earnings. Except certain states in India, keeping an animal is a matter of status, such as Buffalo in Punjab, Haryana, Pig in Northestern states. The majority of farmer is having low income and need a bulk asset to build small, medium or large farm. Currently, NABARD is supporting farmers to grow their business ventures by providing various type of loans with minimal interest from the entrepreneurs which is very much beneficial for them as well as the growth of their farm.
Public- Private Partnership (PPP) model:
The public–private partnership (PPP or 3P) is a commercial legal relationship defined by the Government of India in 2011 as “an arrangement between a government / statutory entity / government owned entity on one side and a private sector entity on the other, for the provision of public assets and/or public services, through investments being made and/or management being undertaken by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time, where there is well defined allocation of risk between the private sector and the public entity and the private entity receives performance linked payments that conform (or are benchmarked) to specified and pre-determined performance standards, measurable by the public entity or its representative“. There is a vast scope of opening of farm in this public–private partnership model with governmental cooperation. Here, people from various sectors including small scale farmers will be involved in the commercial production which increases the chance of huge development without worrying about the financial wings and increases the chance of profit from that structure. In this model there will a good management system which monitors the quality of animal well being, production, processing and product to the hand of customer. The most interesting thing is public can directly monitor the growth of that sector and the government has given the assurance to support about its profits. Thus, farmers will be more interested to join such ventures.
Provide market facility:
Farmers even after building the farm need to sale the bulk products such as milk, meat, wool. Majority of time they are not able to link with a proper dispatching system of their products leading to constant failure to generate a profitable income. In rural sector there is a need for an organisational structure which can directly in contact with farmer and links them with a market. This set up could either be made up with a local or a group of farmers of different neighbouring villages which can be easily encouraged to do constant improvement, able to take risk, and power to solve problems related to that market. They should also be aware of different circumstances about the market facility, fluctuations and value the mutual collaborations. This will bring the financial development, harmony among the villages and prosperity too.
Extension work and follow up along with Report formation:
An extension worker is a mobile library who can brighten any farmers’ life at any moment. Extension work is very much vital for the growth of livestock sector. Generally be said that the extension worker is a medium who spread the information among the farmers about the discoveries made by scientists and researchers. But they should also be involved in the assessment of problems related to the villages, farmers and take out the solutions and apply in the field. As knowledge has no value when kept inside an individual mind, similarly the experience and new technologies has no value until it is dispensed to the field. In the current scenario, extension work is going on various sectors but the follow up is not there following achievements that resulted in losing the vital information for our SWOT analysis. Once the extension work gets over, it should generate the data from the participated farmers, needs to analyse his modification and drawbacks in his techniques so that it can guide other farmers. Thus constant analysis of data is crucial for the sake of farmers. It is not mandatory that all reports would provide positive impact but there might be a negative impact too. There also might be variation in the results, depending upon the place, location, education and adaptability among the farmers. This analysis can shows the ways of further development. After getting all sort of data analysis we need to dispense among various farmers and ultimately help in the growth for crore of farmers in multiple villages of the country.
Quality control training:
Currently, the world is gathering in a singe platform, i.e., online based marketing. Higher the quality seeks the higher price, just need to provide the assurance about the quality of the product. To get quality product from a farmer, they should be trained to maintain the hygiene of the end product and to assure the quality they should be trained in certain time intervals. These products might be raw like milk, wool, or by products like Ghee, Paneer, Curd or other home made products.
The farmers, who are involved in the selling of animals also needs to be trained regarding maintaining the gesture of animals to attract buyers like poultry birds, small ruminants. They should be healthy and free from any kind of ecto-parasites and chronic or acute diseases. Ultimately, it increases the market price and farmers’ income.
Connects all villages at a central market:
Since age’s middle man used to play the role to connect with the central market and the most the profit of the farmer are engulfed by them. These people get the product from farmer and sell it at higher prices in the market and causes huge losses for the farmer. They neither get the proper price of their products nor getting the satisfaction on their work.
To get a proper price of the product produced by the farmer should directly connect with the central market or the governmental stores or any agency which can distribute the products directly to customers and provide the maximum profit to them. By this process farmers will get proper business knowledge, identify the future demands, scope of production as per the market trend and motivate them for improving their production.
Governmental monitoring rather a private agency:
Government should directly monitor the price at the central market rather giving the power to the private agency because their might be involve in the more manipulation of price and act like a middle man. Central market, which is the hub for all multistokers involved in big gambles as per the availability of the raw products which directly hamper the farmers’ income. Thus to secure the income of the farmers Government should issue a fixed minimum price/ standard rate for selling the farmers good. This will ensure the welfare or farmer and buyers. Government also should keep a close observation regarding the fluctuation of the prices in the central market for the sake of buyers.
Strict testing procedure:
Testing is the security key for marketization of a product which assures quality. The product produced by the farmers should undergo testing to know the quality of that product before reaching to the customer hand and to get higher price. As profit margin will get increase, the farmers might get disloyal and indulge in the mischievous activities, which ultimately put question mark on the quality products provided by other farmers. The products with better testing result always have higher demands and price. It also helps to generate and develop region specific GI tags.
Encourage advertisement and Award:
Following successful achievements by the farmer or group of people, news should be get distributed among the people of the society, so that others can also be get motivated and indulge in such activities. There is a usual lines saying “seeing is believing” because without showing the progress report no one believes about achievements. Thus achievements of one farmer in a village will inspire others to replicate. There will be an increase in the production of the animal husbandry related quality products, demand of procurement, and ultimately enrich the farmer economically. These achievements itself is a self advertisement which assure the development of that village, adjacent localities and the district. It also helps in rising up the competitors and improves the qualities of products or by-products.
Achievement of an individual should be praised within the group of progressive minded people for inspire the other people. The main reason behind the success of a dedicated extension worker should be found out and praised which directly involves in their achievement. This brings enthusiasm and courage among the workers and farmers that in turn boost their morale for further dedication towards their work
Education:
Education is the vital part of learning, an educated person easily learn and accept new technologies and can explore various ways to become successful entrepreneur. Education should be the priories in the all sector of India. Sophisticated techniques for increasing production can only be applied if the farmers are educated.
Conclusion:
We have came a long way after independence but still the farmers are suffering, and are exploited due to lack of knowledge. An educated and knowledgeable farmer in a village can bring the revolution by setting up the examples to poor and laggards who are not ready to accept the change. Starting from discovery of the problems to the awarding is a long process which takes time, tests for one’s patience level and assures the success for millions of farmers. Farmers are well equipped with their physical power, just need to incorporate the best suitable ideas which can bring the revolutionary change in the villages and country like India.
| Award |
| Improve Income |
| Discovering the problems
|
| Encouragement for commercial farming
|
| Veterinary facility at door level
|
| Quality control Training
|
| Provide market facility |
| Public- Private Partnership (PPP) model
|
| Financial support
|
| Encourage and advertisement |
| Governmental monitoring rather a private agency
|
| Connects all villages at a central market
|
| Improvement in animal Health management
|
| Extension work and follow up along with Report formation
|
| Strict testing procedure
|
| Education |
Reference:
- 20th Livestock Statistics, Government of India.
- 2019. Basic Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Statistics. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
- https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/30-crore-cattle-and-rising-but-where-are-the-countrys-vets/
- https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1588304
