HOW TO INCREASE THE INCOME OF LIVESTOCK FARMER’S IN INDIA?

HOW TO INCREASE THE INCOME OF LIVESTOCK FARMER’S IN INDIA?

N.MADHUMATHI,

BVT16022,

4TH year, BVSc & A.H,

Veterinary College and Research Institute,

Tirunelveli.

Email ID: nmadhumathi1997@gmail.com.

Abstract:

Agriculture allied livestock rearing is the livelihood of about 70% of rural farmers since time immortal. It provides employment to about 8.8% of the population in India. Livestock contributes about 25.6% and 4.1% in agriculture and national GDP. In the recent decades demand for various livestock products increased significantly due to increase in per capita, urbanisation, taste and preference and increased awareness about food nutrition.It is also considered as a potential sector for expert earning. To increase the farmers income through livestock sector in real terms requires restructuring livestock process and policy interventions. Fundamentally there are three ways in which income of farmers may be enhanced, viz., increasing the gross income, reducing the costs, and stabilizing the income. The strategies to be promoted are Genetic improvement of poor yielding livestock through crossbreeding, upgrading and selective breeding to maximize their production along with local adaptability, economic feeding practices, proper health care and management practices will lead to optimization of production. Minimum Support price for livestock products, market development, product processing, packaging, value addition, cold storage facilities, easy availability of high yielding germplasm, livestock insurance, adopting diversified and integrated farming, adopting Public-private partnership, strengthening extension services, repetition of AMUL co-operative model for milk production and Namakkal model for poultry production, increasing backyard poultry farming, promoting organic farming to specific areas along with increasing funding, subsidy and easy availability of bank loan for livestock farming are the key ways to increase the farmersincome.

Keywords: Farmers income, Genetic improvement, Minimum support price, organic farming, efficient marketing.

Introduction:

   Does livestock sector to be a game changer in enhancing the farmer’s income? YES, it does.Livestock has been an integral part of Indian agriculture since time immemorial due to its multifactorial contributions to the society in the form of nutrient rich food products, by-products, drought power, income and employment. For the past few decades, livestock sector faces an immense growth rate with the total population of 535.78 million. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community. It also provides employment to about 8.8% of the population. Livestock contributes 16% to the income of small household as against annational average of 14% for all rural household. Overall livestock contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total agriculture GDP. Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy where as livestock act as an engine not only for agriculture but also for the rural people by providing the daily income through the sale of milk.There is a need to increase the income of farmer and to make their participation globally. For this, the effort should be taken at gross root level to promote their livelihood. It is a time to restructure and revitalize the present institutional set-up in the livestock sector.

Current scenario:

As per the 20^th livestock census,

• India is the world’s highest livestock owner at about 535.78 million population
• Ranks first in buffalo population.
• Ranks second in cattle and goat population.
• Ranks third in sheep population and egg production.
• Ranks fifth in duck and chicken population.
• Ranks tenth in camel population.

Even though India has the highest livestock population, the economic status of livestock farmers are not appreciable. According to National Crime Record Bureau , the unfruitful truth is several thousand farmers lost their life due to poverty every year. One third of rural community rearing livestock only to escape from poverty andnot to sustain their life. This shows it is necessary to ameliorate the standard of rural people and to sustain their life.

The reason behind:

In order to increase the income of livestock farmers, look for the reason behind their low income. The most important issues regarding the low income are:-

1. The first and foremost reason is the low productivity of farm animal. The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50% of the global average.
2. India is deficit in dry fodder by 11%, green fodder by 35% and concentrates by 28% which fails to meet out the nutrient requirement of livestock. The common grazing land is also declining day by day.
3. Artificial insemination (AI) replaces the natural breeding. But it is not cent percent successful owing to failure in oestrus detection, deficiency in quality of semen, lack of infrastructure and technical manpower.
4. Frequent outbreaks of disease like Food and Mouth disease, Black Quarter, influenza, Peste des petits, Lumpy skin disease, etc. continue to affect the Livestock health and lowers the productivity.
5. Lack of knowledge on vaccination and deworming. Due to panic that the vaccine may predispose to disease, farmers fail to vaccinate the animal.
6. Failure in oestrusdetection and unnotified reproductive disorders such as subclinical endometritis, cystic ovarian degeneration may affect the conception rate and reproductive life of the animal.
7. Inadequate Veterinary services and Extension workers in the rural areas at the time of emergency.
8. Poor knowledge on goodmarketing techniques to the farmers which lead to the middleman intervention and lowers the output cost.
9. Only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover and only 5% of the farm household in India access information on livestock technology. This indicates an apathetic outreach of the financialand information delivery system.
10. Lack of knowledge on organic farming, value added product, by-product utilization.

A way forward:

The demand for livestock product is increasing day by day to meet out the energy requirement of people throughout the world. Increasing demand should upgrade the income and livelihood of the livestock farmer.

Encourage mixed farming:

In mixed farming output of one farm act as an input of other farm which will reduce the investment cost. For example rearing of piggery along with aquaculture, cultivation of paddy along with duck rearing. Cultivation of sorghum may act as a feed (both dry fodder and concentrate) for cattle which will reduce the feed cost. The byproduct of the livestock is also used for agriculture without synthetic manure and follow Organic farming.

Efficient managemental approach:

Four pillars of livestock production management are breeding, feeding, weeding and heeding. Besides this proper care for neonates, flushing(providing extra concentrates before breeding for multiple ovulation in goats), steaming up( nutritional care for pregnant cow before and at parturition to reduce the chance for metabolic disease), proper deworming schedule and vaccination should be done.

Feeding management:

Tohave a high productivity the livestock should be fed with balanced ratio in terms of good green fodder, dry fodder and concentrates. Normally a green fodder of 25-30 kg, dry fodder of 4-5 kg and concentrate of 1-2 kg with mineral mixture need to be provided. Poor quality roughages can be treated with urea or NPN substances to have an efficient digestibility, increase productivity and better profitability. In addition to this, UMMB or salt licks can be added.

Breeding management and check for reproductive disorders:

     High yielding animals cannot be purchased, it can be produced. Crossbreeding in cattle, upgrading in buffaloes and selective breeding in other livestock will enhance the yield. Whereas in indigenous breeds maintain their purity and go for organic farming. Since A2 milk has a demand it can be sold at little higher price than the normal A1 milk. Culling and replacement of unproductive animals is necessary to maintain the farm quality. Appropriate oestrus detection and timely AI will reduce the calving interval andserviceperiod.A calf per cow per yearstrategy should be followed. If the cattle is not conceived after two consecutive AI then the farmers should call veterinarian for clinical diagnosis.

Smart act on Scarcity:

Due to unpredictability of weather, natural disaster and reduced rainfall, it is necessary to implement certain strategies for the availability of green fodder throughout the year. Adopt suitable crop rotation, cultivate dryland crops, and grow perennial legumes to meet out the requirement. During the availability of green fodder, the farmer can conserve in the form of hay or silageforlater usage. In case of severe drought condition, we can go for nonconventional feed resources as well as agro by-products after the removal of toxic alkaloids.

Innovation and innervation of technology:

There is need for interlinkage between farmer and researcher to adapt technology for the profit. Extension worker is the answer for their linkage. Extension worker can understand the results of scientific research paper and make the innovation to the gross root level. Use of mobile application to clarify the farmers’ doubts. Radio frequency identification (RFID) utilizes tags containing a microchip that can read electronicallywhich ensures accurate identification of cows. Tagging livestock with RFID can be an important tool to identify each animal along with its pedigree and medical information. This technology can be utilised to record heat detection, treatment, diseases etc., of an individual animal. Robotic milking system ensures monitoring of automatic milking system, measuring milk quality and composition, monitoring other aspects of animal health ensuring udder disinfection before and after milking. This could be adapted in large farms.

Step to be taken by the Government:

• Providing Efficient Marketing channel because around 20 percent of the profit is taken up by the middleman. The government should provide a way for directly selling their product to the retailer or consumer without middleman.
• The government should implement ambitious agribusiness hubs and setup Special Livestock Zones (SLZ) such as AMUL model for milk production and worldwide Namakkal model for poultry production.
• Minimum support price for livestock product should be fixed. In addition to this, compulsory insurance for animals should be made.
• Allocate fund for regular vaccination of epidemic disease.
• Strengthen the existing steps such as Kisan credit scheme, women self-empowerment in dairying and backyard poultry development,Rashtriya Gokul Mission,Livestock Health and Disease Control Scheme, Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme assisted through NABARD for financial activities, Feed and Fodder development scheme, National Agriculture Market(e-NAM), e-pashuhaat etc.,.

Promote value added product:

The livestock product technology has to develop a lot. Fresh milk can’t be kept for a longer period without cooling which contributes to the preparation of different milk products such as curd, cheese, paneer, ghee, ice cream, buttermilk, flavoured milk,khoa,etc., These products comparatively have longer shelf life than the fresh milk. These products are marketed globally and industrialized. Farmers can also prepare homemade and sell them locally.

Waste to Best:

Everything from livestock can be utilized efficiently. Drug can be marketed as an organic fertilizer or manure. By educating the farmer, it is possible to enhance their income with the use of various animal by-products such as dung, urine, skin etc. To engage the farmers on cooperative model, the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog, the national cow commission, has facilitated the use of various cow dung, urine items as a business model and connecting them to the industrial world.Panchakavya, vermicomposting can be made using the by-products.

Conclusion:

Livestock development represents a promising opportunity to enhance farmers’ income, especially in the less- developed regions. All the ongoing schemes recommended for continuation should be classified under three mega schemes; a) Animal production b) Livestock Health, and c) Dairy development. The strategies outlined above rest on four critical pillars—technology, institutions, infrastructure, and incentive structure. Increasing incomes by improving productivity along with stabilizing income and risk management through holistic approach.Proper utilization of animal product as well as by product in an efficient way without middleman intervention has a direct impact on economy as well as in participation of a country in Global market.

Reference:

1. Dinani O.P, Tyagi.R, Giri.A, and Popat.D (2018) Role of Livestock farmer in doubling the farmer’s income national perspective and the way forward, international journal of science, environment and technology.
2. Livestock census (2019), Department of Animal husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. 20^th livestock census, Govt of India.
3. Role of Livestock in Indian Economy-vikaspedia.
4. Can Livestock sector be the Game Changer in Enhancing the Farmers’ Income? Reinvesting Thrust with special Focus on Dairy sector- Reka Saxena,Naveen P.Singh & et al -ICAR, agricultural Economics Research review Vol 30, DOI:10.5958/0974-0279.00022.2.

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