Low Production of Indian Dairy Animals : Challenges and Mitigation strategies
DHARYA YADAV1 A. ANUBHARATHI2
1FOURTH YEAR STUDENT VCRI NAMAKKAL TANUVAS
2INTERNSHIP STUDENT VCRI TIRUNELVELI,TANUVAS
Dairy Production in India, has seen a great increase over the post-independence period, it has grown into a thriving enterprise, thanks to the policy decisions related to systematic breeding, improved feeding and superior health care management over the period. But some constraints hinder the development of dairy sector in the country. Being a rich livestock population owning country, then also certain factors such as poor management, poor genetic traits, low knowledge of farmers, poor breeding techniques and information, low health care, poor pasture land availability , less focus on forage and fodders etc. .Though there is an increase in the livestock sector as compared to agricultural sector , but the productivity as it should be for the dairy sector and the other livestock sectors is not up-to the required level in India.
Talking about Dairy sector of India, it is the leading producer of milk worldwide, by having 57.3% and 14.7% of the worlds buffalo and cattle population respectively (20th livestock verpus-2019). Operation flood (or) so called white revolution in the country has helped to increase the milk production of the country but being the owner of a large population of animals the productivity per animal is less as compared to other countries such as Israel having 1.6 billion litres of milk production/year having only around 115,000 cattle population in the country, the reason being proper germplasm management, proper breeding, healthcare, diet etc.
Dairy production contributes about 25% of India’s Agriculture GDP and contributes about 23% of worldwide milk production and ranks first in the world. Even though there are various steps taken by the Government of India including likes of Rashtriya Gokul Mission which have led positively in increasing the milk production of the country by 10% from 198.44 MT during the year 2019-20 to 221.1 MT during the year 2020-21 increasing the per capita availability to 444g/day and still there is a significant increasing demand of the milk in the country and it is expected to rise by the year 2030.
96% of milk in India is produced by cattle and buffaloes out of this 10% are indigenous breeds,11% are non – descript, 35% buffaloes, 27 % cross breed cattles.
The global milk average of 2238 kg /year, is very much high and more than the country average of 1538 kg/year indicating the low productivity of milch animals of the country.
Several challenges have been identified for the low productivity of animals causing average milk yield of indigenous cattle per day of 3.85 kg, while for exotic breeds it is 11.67 kg per animal per day and 7.85 kg for cross-breed animals as per DAHD annual report of 2019-20, which stands much lower when compared to cattle of other parts of the world such as United States – 33kg/day, Israel – 40.08 kg/day, United Kingdom 26.67 kg / day and European Union-25.03 kg/day.
The major factors contributing to this low productivity are-
1.Low genetic characteristics of animals
India having the world’s largest livestock population, but the per animal per day milk yield of the animals in the country is very much less than the global average and also as compared to other countries average milk yield though having less livestock population. The reason is low genetic potential of the animals of the country.
2.Environmental stress
Various climatic changes leading to adverse conditions causing serious problems to animals such as Rinderpest, FMD, Haemorrhagic septicaemia, Black quarter, anthrax etc. decreasing the productivity of the milch animals of the country. Along with it the financial constraints of the farmers and lack of treatment and veterinary practices causes decreases in the total milk production.
- Questionable breeding Policy
Cross-breeding program after the initial spurt in production, the performance of cross-bred cows with various levels of being prone to milk stagnation in the later generations causes a decrease in the dairy milk production.
- Inadequate nutrient supply
Adequate supply of quality feed and fodder is very much essential for enhancing the productivity of dairy animals. But there is lack of proper feed resources in the country which is a major constraint in the country as according to NANP 2005, there is a shortage of dry fodder by 11%, and green fodder by 28% and concentrate feed by 35% in the country and the scope for raising the production is also less.
- Poor socio-economics status of dairy farmers
More than half of the Livestock in the are being kept by the farmers for their own livelihood and food security. Thus, the dairy production of the country is less.
- Lack of awarenessamong the farmers about management, health and also marketing plans and strategies.
7.Lack of cold chain facilities.
8.Adulteration and food safety
- Fluid milk prices.
- Unorganised marketing.
MITIGATIONS
Though there are by the lot of challenges being faced by the dairy sector of the country, but on the other hand various steps have also been taken and have been planned to improve the production -
1.Highest milk production
The milk production of the country is highest in the world is still working on its capacities to increase the production as it is one of the major economic source for the farmers thus improving their socio-economic status.
2 Export Potential
Dairy sector with its products and by-products has emerged and is still emerging with a of potential and so our country with such a huge potential can become a leading country in the milk production and the benefit (monetary) co-exists with the increased production. Thus the farmers and other cooperatives, production society and companies need to be motivated to increase the production.
- Nutrient supply
Milk is considered as one of the beneficial sources of protein for the vegetarian population of the society and the trend of shifting from non-vegetarian diet to vegetarian diet is in upward growing curve which thus creates a huge demand for the milk for the society and the people which can be met only by increasing its production.
- Proper Cooperatives
There is a need of setting up of proper functioning cooperatives such as Amul, meeting all the necessary standards, needs and providing a uniform price to the farmers as per their production thus setting up such cooperatives will be favourable for the farmers who will in turn will increase their production.
- Production Policies and programmes
The Government along with the related committiees and associations should work on establishing various strategies or plans of – breed improvement, dairy development, feed and fodder resource development, animal disease control, improved germplasm and genetic potential of livestock etc. Programmes such as National control Programme for various diseases, Rashtriya Gokul mission, National Network for animal productivity and health, National programme for dairy development, National programme for bovine breeding, etc. have already been working and needed to be refurbished in order to increase the production.
- Increasing genetic potentialof native dairy breeds so that the production can be increased such as of Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, etc. thus increasing the milk productivity.
7.Feeding management
Efforts need to be made to increase the availability of various feed stuff to the animals and at a price that is helpful in reducing feed cost for the farmers. Also, teaching farmers the advanced technology of production such as use of roughage-based diet, feeding of mineral mixture, common salt use for enhancing milk production etc. will be beneficial.
8.Health management
Health management of animal especially reproductive health management is a must and very essential otherwise various conditions such as dystocia, retained foetal membrane, endometritis, metritis etc. affects the animal health and decreases their productivity.
CONCLUSION
Thus in the last it is evident that the dairy sector of the country is facing challenges from many sources but with the vast socio-economic opportunities possessed by this sector it can overcome all the challenges and can flourish well enough by the synergistic action / help from the government, researches, non-governmental organisations and especially farmers along with the integrated effort of traditional and industrial approach leading to increased dairy production and thus the development of the country.
