E.L.Aruneshwaran, II - B.V.Sc. & A.H.,
Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal,
Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University
HOW TO INCREASE THE INCOME OF LIVESTOCK FARMER’S IN INDIA
India is primarily an agricultural dependent country with rich biodiversity where the rural Indian farmers are the back bone of our nation. Farmers earn income from various sources, viz. crop cultivation, horticulture, dairy, poultry, fisheries, other allied activities, non-farm activities, and wage employment. The total Livestock population in India is 535.78 million as per 20th Livestock census showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP. Livestock sector, a subsector of agriculture plays an important role in improving the economic condition of farmers. About 70 % of livestock population is under the landless, small and marginal farmers where these animals are the source of daily income for farmers. Livestock play an important role in the welfare of Indian farmers.
Need to Increase farmer’s income
Nowadays, Farming becomes very risky due to unpredictability of weather, natural calamities, shrinking water table, increased cost of production, repeated crop failure, globalization and lack of youth in agriculture causing decreasing profitability and income from agriculture. Thus it forces farmers to engage more on Livestock farming for their daily income. Hence it is essential to improve the strategies for Livestock farming and increase the income of Livestock farmers. Crop-livestock diversification is the best livelihood strategies for farm household. This system provides increased stability in income, food security; transport fuel and nutrition to the farmer’s.
Fundamentally there are three ways in which income of farmers may be enhanced, viz., increasing the gross income, reducing the costs of inputs and stabilizing the income during the seasonal changes through effective Livestock management practices, by adopting various modern Technologies and by utilizing the livestock waste and by products in best manner.
Livestock Management Practices
- Shelter Management
A normal adult cattle need 1–1.5 m2 of cover. Asbestos or galvanized iron sheets are used as roofing materials, as they have good insulating property with poor conductivity to heat. Flooring should be done with rough cement concrete with a slope of 1/40 to 1/60 to have easy accessibility to the drainage channel in order to prevent hoof problems and mastitis. Cattle mats can be used to prevent slippery floors. Cattle need protection from wind, rain, snow, excessive heat, and excessive sunshine. Planting tall trees as windbreaks around the shed will provide natural shade and good ventilation which reduce the effect of unfavourable solar radiation. - Feeding Management
Feeding is an important aspect of dairying as it accounts for around 70% of total cost of livestock production. A normal adult cattle need 2-2.5% of dry matter/100 Kg B.W. Cattle should be fed with a well-balanced diet which helps in increased conception rate, healthy pregnancy, safe parturition, low incidence of infections and a healthy calf. Fodder should be chaffed before feeding, to avoid wastage and increase digestibility. Green fodder should be harvested at 50% flowering stage where as Surplus green fodder are conserved in the form of ‘hay’ or ‘silage’ which will be useful during summers where green fodder is scarce. Animals fed only on dry fodder may be provided with Urea Molasses Mineral Block. High producing lactating animals must be fed with bypass proteins and bypass fats to prevent negative energy balance. Modern Technologies like total mixed ration (TMR) which contains both concentrate and roughage would be given to animals 3-4 times per day. Changing feed from one to another should be done in a gradual manner. Water must be. clean, safe and it should always be available at all times everywhere in the barn. - Breeding Management
The Breeding management of animals aims to achieve the goal of one calf per year with high milk production for economic and profitable dairy farming. In order to improve the milk production of our native and ND breeds, Cross breeding and upgrading policies with high producing exotic animals should be implemented. The AI semen quality must be checked properly at regular intervals and the A.I technician should be trained properly to inseminate. Pregnancy diagnosis should be done after 45-60 days of breeding by qualified veterinary doctor. This provides clear way to breed the animal in next oestrus in negative animals. Diseased bulls should not be allowed for breeding. In developed farms improved breeding practices through application of super ovulation and embryo transfer technology used for production of superior mother. - Health Management
Good hygiene including clean water and feed supplies should be maintained. The animals must be allowed for grazing for proper exercising instead of staying in the shed itself. To maintain the proper health status of the animals, Deworming should be done once in 6 months. Transportation facilities should meet local standards to decrease the stress during transport. The newly arriving animals to the farm must be quarantined separately to monitor its health status and the diseased animals in the farm should be separated and treated accordingly. The animals in the farm should be separated, according to their physiological conditions like lactating animals, pregnant animals, dry animals etc., and given proper feed, space to reduce its stress. The milking of animals should be done after proper teat dipping and good hygiene. Improved calf management should be done to prevent unusual loss.
Role of Government
To improve the Livestock farming in India, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries formulated various Central schemes namely
• Dairy Entrepreneurship Development programme,
• Fodder and Feed Development Scheme
• Conservation of Threatened Breeds of Livestock
• Livestock Insurance
• Establishment of Rural Slaughterhouses
Government of India established National bovine genomic centre for identification of disease free high genetic merit indigenous bulls and Female sex sorted semen to produce high genetic merit female to increase milk production and profitability.
Policy support services such as Kisan credit card, women SHGs, farmer’s federation, NGOs also provide financial support to the farmers. State government organize camp, like- Krishi Mela in Krishi Vigan Kendra for famers to provide information regarding adoption of latest technology related with livestock and also organised health camps to improve health status of animals.
Educating livestock farmers about various method of production of value added product. Also help in provide loan with low interest to the farmers. Provide insurance to famers during natural climatic condition. MSP for livestock products must be increased.
Enriched Livestock Products
Value addition is a process of changing and transforming a product from its original state to a more valuable state. Fermented milk products, Cheese, Butter, ghee, Cream, Whey products and Casein Milk products are the value added products of Dairy Industry. This will have high selling opportunities and thus it will increase income to farmers.
Vermicomposting, Biogas production, Panchakavya are the best ways to utilize livestock wastes in profitable manner.
Conclusion
Farmers are needed to transform into entrepreneur to increase the income by adopting innovative approach and technology. 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. MSP 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, contract livestock farming, strengthening extension services, 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 farmers income.
Refererence:
- Deepika Tekam*, Nikita Sonawane, Adhiti Bhanotra and Manish Sawant, 2019 Doubling of Farmers Income through Animal Husbandry by 2022, International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences , ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019).
- O.P. Dinani, Pramod Ku. Tyagi, Anil Kumar Giri and Dukare Sagar Popat, 2018, ROLE OF LIVESTOCK IN DOUBLING THE FARMERS INCOME – NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE AND THE WAY FORWARD, International Journal of Science, Environment ISSN 2278-3687 (O) and Technology, Vol. 7, No 2, 2018, 496 – 50
