HOW TO INCREASE THE INCOME OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN INDIA

HOW TO INCREASE THE INCOME OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN INDIA

Abinash Satapathy

3rd year ,BVSc & A.H, Anjora, Durg

Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu Visvavidyalaya

Introduction:

Livestock sector of our country is one of the largest sectors in the world.  Animal husbandry is considered as an integral part of Indian agricultural system that supporting livelihood of approximately two-thirds of the rural population. Different animals provide nutrient-rich food products; dung is used as organic manure and domestic fuel, other parts such as hides & skin etc. are the regular source of cash income for rural households. These are considered as natural capital, which can be easily reproduced to act as a living bank with offspring as an interest, and also as an insurance against income shocks of crop failure and during disasters. Now-a-days according to the development of various systems the life style of the people has been changed that in turn cause the changes in food consumption patterns and utility of livestock has been drastically  transformed. The growth rates of many useful animals are declined in recent years. Similarly, the use of dung manure is increasingly being replaced by chemical fertilizers.Table 1 shows the details of population in million and per cent of growth rates from 2012 to 2019

Table 1: Species wise Livestock population and per cent growth

Now-a-days the entire world is facing challenges with pandemic situations i.e. COVID-19 which also affect the economy of Indian livestock farmers. Doctor’s advice is to boost your immune system to get protection against this dreadful disease. In the other hand, a fast-growing urban population, changing lifestyles, improvements in transportation and storage facilities and rise of supermarkets concepts especially in cities are fuelling rapid increases in consumption of animal food products. So, it is the correct time to take necessary steps by our Government to restructure and revitalize livestock farmers to enhance their economy. Livestock farmers in India facing several Challenges to survive and to manage their livestock business. There are frequent outbreaks of various diseases such as Foot and Mouth Diseases, viral infections; Influenza, etc. continue to affect Livestock health that lowers productivity. Huge population of Indian ruminants contributes to greenhouse gases emission. Reducing greenhouse gases through mitigation and adaptation strategies  stands as a major challenge. Crossbreeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to improve the genetic potential of different species has been successful only to certain extent. Limited Artificial Insemination services owing to a deficiency in quality germplasm, infrastructure and technical manpower coupled with poor conception rate following artificial insemination have been the major impediments. Here, there are some important points discussed to overcome the financial problems of Indian livestock farmers.

Increase Livestock Sustainability:

Sustainability is a multifaceted challenge and considered as the miracle of the ‘1 size fits all’. Sustainable farming can best understood as the production of food in an economically profitable, socially acceptable and environmentally neutral way. Livestock share a major contribution to rural development in developing countries. They produce food, increase crop production as well as provide additional economic goods and services and cash income. 

Control and Eradication of Infectious Diseases: 

Several infectious diseases are a major concern for the farmers’ economy. In recent past the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP), proposed for eradicating Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in livestock. The major objective of the program is to provide vaccination over 500 million livestock heads, including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs, against FMD, and some 36 million female bovine calves annually against brucellosis. The program has approved and received financial assistance 100 per cent from the Central Govt amounting Rs 12,652 crore for five years until 2024. This proposal is expected to help indirectly to Indian livestock farmers to boost their economy.

Re-orientation of Breeding Policy for Livestock: 

Every states of our country need to be encouraged to analyse their breeding policies for different livestock species. Species-wise breeding programmes should be fine-tuned and implemented for faster growth in production. Necessary steps need to be taken for enhancement of milk production in cattle and buffaloes as well as to increase their life time productivity. Following are some important points need to be taken into consideration for the overall benefit of Indian livestock farmers.

• Selective breeding of particular indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes with history of high milk yield need to be promoted to improve their production potential. 
• Efforts need to be made to import semen of these breeds to avoid inbreeding. 
• Cross-breeding of non-descript with high yielding exotic breeds suitable for respective agro-climatic conditions need to be encouraged in selected areas having adequate facility for feed .
• There is a need to focus on the hitherto neglected natural mating system and to produce quality disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service through implementation of massive pedigree selection and progeny testing programmes. 
• For the purpose of cross-breeding, semen of progeny tested bulls need to be used as far as possible.

Implementation of newer technologies for livestock breeding:

Newer technologies for breeding and reproduction, such as genetic engineering (Recombinant DNA technology) and marker technology need to be adopted. Various breed improvement programmes need to be organized for farmers for increasing production. Efforts need to be made to develop semen sexing technology to provide greater choice regarding breeding to farmers. 

Strategy for Enhancing Livestock Production:

There is a need to improve the yield levels of milk for cows and buffaloes by improving feed and fodder, genetic up-gradation through cross breeding, strengthening progeny testing, selective breeding, converting unproductive animals to productive and improved disease control and surveillance etc. Emphasis should be given on small ruminants and pigs to improve nutrition, genetics, breeding strategies and health cover to increase proliferacy, weights, and to reduce mortality leading to improvement in quality and quantity of meat, skin and wool. Selection of breeding stocks through large scale screening by involving farmers needs to be taken as a national program. The farmers should be encouraged to be organized as cooperatives or Farmers’ Producers’ Organization for better access to inputs and marketing. Some important aspects in favour of farmer’s economy are listed below.

• Appropriate support need to be provided to backyard poultry farmers in rural areas to promote clusters or small holder’s poultry estates. 
• To provide remunerative marketing opportunities to farmers, mutually beneficial contracts between the poultry farmers and purchasers and poultry industry should be encouraged so as to minimize the risks of the farmers. 
• Small farmers should be provided opportunities to associate with corporates in an integrated model through self-help groups or co-operatives. 

Clean Milk Production, Hygiene and Quality Control:

 There is a major concern on excessive residues of fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics and other non-biological toxicants in milk and milk products that affects the human health and economy of the society. The Govt should implement policy and facilities for clean milk production with quality and food safety of international standards for benefit of farmers and consumers. In the other hand methods of collection, storage facilities, transport, processing and testing of milk need to be modernized to ensure quality. Administrative and regulatory policies should be put in place to ensure supply of safe milk as per the standard quality. These would be supported by a network of internationally accredited laboratories for food safety standards and application of total quality management.

 Value Addition:

 With improving standards of living, the consumers are becoming discerning for a variety of products. Diversification of dairy products including probiotics would be promoted to meet local demands and for exports. Public Private Partnership initiatives should be supported to ensure better marketing opportunities and remunerative returns to the dairy farmers. Animal biosecurity is the factor where a national institutional mechanism, in collaboration with the regulatory bodies should be put in place to deal with the issue of biosecurity in the livestock sector. All states of our country should be encouraged to promote responsible use of antibiotics and other medicines harmful to the environment. Vaccines and diagnostic measures should be regulated to prevent ingress of exotic diseases.

Contingency fund for Disaster Management:

 Contingency plans should be prepared to maintain the productivity and welfare of livestock and poultry sector during various types of natural calamities and drought conditions. The objective of such plans should aim to improve veterinary care and make available feed and fodder through greater emphasis on fodder productivity and storage through silage or fodder blocks. 

Enhancement of livestock farmers Knowledge by awareness programme: Most of the livestock producers being small and marginal farmers, their capacity to mobilize resources required to absorb the latest technologies developed by research institutions are limited. Absence of effective extension machinery for this purpose compounds the problem. Lack of access to institutional finance is a major constraint in attracting investment required for improving productivity by adopting latest technology.

 Linkage between livestock product and market:

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. This needs to be increased to re-energize the sector. Markets for live animals and their products are under-developed and dominated by informal traders who often exploit producers. The strengthening of linkages between production and markets through institutions such as co-operatives, producers’ associations, and contract farming is the need of the hour. Institutional support in terms of credit and insurance is meagre and needs to be strengthened. Further, the governments and industry should prepare producers for a quality-driven competition in the domestic as well as global market.

Conclusion:

In our country, agriculture plays an important role in economy. Like agriculture, Livestock also plays a significant role in Indian economy. Livestock share a major contribution to rural development in most of the developing countries. There is a need to strengthen our livestock farmers to pave the way towards the development of our nation.

REFERENCES

1. Birthal, P.S. 2008.Linking smallholder livestock producers to markets: Issues and approaches. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 63(1):19-37.

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