Low Productivity of Dairy Animals: Challenging and Mitigation Strategies
Dr. M. Kishan Kumar,
Senior Professor & University Head, Department of Livestock Production Management, College of Veterinary Science, Hyderabad, P.V.NarsimhaRao Telangana Veterinary University, Hyderabad, Telangana
Livestock plays an important role not only in the Indian economy but also in national nutritional security and it is a sub-sector of agriculture, particularly for small and marginal farmers. Whereas, the production potential of our animals is not comparable with that of the global average which is fifty percent less due to many reasons, breed, feed and fodder deficiency, disease control, improper management being the major one. Livestock sector in India has emerged as an important sector for employment generation and providing a stable source of income to rural as well as urban farmers. Though India is first in milk production but still the average milk production per animal is very low of 1,284 kg per lactation per animal, while that of European Union and US is 6,212 kg and 9,117 kg respectively. The reason for this is mainly due to poor production potential of dairy animals, inadequate nutrition as well as management practices including breeding and calf rearing practices. The feed and fodder shortage in India is due to the unavailability of land for quality fodder cultivation, improper storage practices and use of agricultural residues and waste. Thus, there is a dire need to adopt innovative methods and technology not only in production but also in the preservation of fodder. Unconventional methods in fodder production, including seed technology, system approaches, hi-tech farming and adopting mechanization in fodder production, can be considered for their advancement. Being the leader in cattle and buffalo population and increasing livestock populations, current fodder production in our country is not able to meet the requirement.
Livestock emerged as vital sector for ensuring a more inclusive and sustainable agriculture system. Evidence from the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 70th round survey showed that more than one-fifth (23 per cent) of agricultural households with very small parcels of land (less than 0.01 hectare) had livestock as their principal source of income. Farming households with some cattle head are better able to withstand distress due to extreme weather conditions.
Growing population, changing lifestyles, expanding urbanization and accelerated climate changes are creating a new challenges in livestock production systems. In the past, the challenge was to ample feed, but now it is to provide essential nutrients to promote health, especially reproductive health and productivity. Fortunately, along with challenges, the developments in science and innovation are creating new avenues for tackling the challenges.
Further, biodiversity of livestock, which is so crucial for sustaining long-term productivity, is also under jeopardy. The genetically uniform systems are vulnerable to external shocks under extreme weather conditions, emerging diseases and pathogens. In livestock sector, due to continued focus on exotic germplasm based cross breeding, the number of indigenous breeds with better adaptability, disease-resistance and feed efficiency ratio is declining. The situation is made worse by unregulated blood levels in the crossbred progeny, in attempts to increase milk yield indiscriminately. Hence it is the need of the hour to conserve and improve the productivity of Indian indigenous breeds. For accomplishing this task, the department is now therefore focusing on 100 percent Artificial Insemination coverage along with the application of advanced cutting-edge reproductive technology developments.
In this context, India is blessed with a huge biodiversity of 43 indigenous cattle breeds 13 Buffalo breeds, 20 Sheep breeds and 43 Goat breeds which have survived over last hundreds of years in respect of their suitability for specific purposes in the concerned local environment.
Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed the most important role in providing employment and income generating opportunities particularly for marginal and women farmers. Most of the milk is produced by animals reared by small, marginal farmers and landless labours. Of the total milk production in India, about 48 % milk is either consumed at the producer level or sold to non-producers in the rural area. The balance 52 % of the milk is marketable surplus available for sale to consumers in urban areas. Out of marketable surplus it is estimated that about 40 % of the milk sold is handled by the organized sector ( i.e. 20% each by Co-operative & Private Dairies) and the remaining 60 % by the unorganized sector.
Livestock Sector contribution under present scenario
Livestock is an integral part of Indian agriculture and it plays an important role in Indian economy, more than 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. Livestock sector contributed 16.0 percent to the income of small farm household as against an average of 14 percent for rural households. Livestock provides livelihood to two third of rural community and employment to about 8.8 percent of the population in India. India has vast livestock resources and livestock contributes 4.11 percent of GDP and 25.6 percent of total agricultural GDP
The total livestock population consisting of Cattle, Buffalo, Sheep, Goat, pig, Horses & Ponies, Mules, Donkeys, Camels, Mithun and Yak in the country is 535.78 million numbers (Livestock census 2019).
| S.No. | Livestock Category | Number in millions | Present Position |
| 1 | Cattle | 192.49 | Second |
| 2 | Buffaloes | 109.85 | First |
| 3 | Sheep | 74.26 | Third |
| 4 | Goats | 148.88 | Second |
| 5 | Pigs | 9.06 | Nineth |
| 6 | Others | 0.91 | |
| 7 | Camel | 0.25 | Tenth |
| 8 | Poultry(Ducks & Chicken) | 851.81 | Fifth |
India is one of the world’s largest livestock sectors, with a significant cattle population comprising 14.7% of the global total. The animals that belong to Descript (identified)/Non-descript (non-identified) breeds of indigenous origin are considered as indigenous animals. As per the 20th Livestock Census (Anonymous, 2019), the total number of cattle in the country was 192.49 million showing an increase of 0.8 % over the previous Census, the Indigenous/Non-descript female cattle population increased by 10% in 2019. Many indigenous cattle breeds have evolved over centuries primarily for use in draft and agricultural activities. As per the Breed Survey Report (Anonymous, 2022), In India, there are 24.9 million pure breeds, 16.9 million grades of different breeds, and 41.8 million non-descript cattle available among the indigenous cattle amounting to 74% of total cattle . India’s remarkable contribution to global milk production is undeniable. In 2020, the country accounted for 22% of the world’s milk output, producing a staggering 198.44 million tons. This position underscores India’s significance in the global dairy landscape. Indigenous bovine breeds are a cornerstone of India’s milk production, contributing an impressive 68.39% to the national total. Despite being the world leader in milk production, India faces the challenge of low milk productivity per cow per day, indicating the need for substantial improvements. Initiating genetic improvement programs is a critical step towards enhancing milk production across different cattle species in India.
Challenges:
Livestock sector act as an engine for agricultural growth. To increase the milk yield would require addressing challenges and availability of high yielding germplasm, shortage of feed and fodder, frequent occurrence of some deadly disease etc.
Major Challenges:
Improving productivity in a huge population of low-producing animals is one of the major challenges. The average milk yield of Indian cattle is 3.73 kg, Crossbred cattle 7.61 kg and Non descript cattle 2.41 kg per day, whereas, buffaloes producing 6.91 kg and ND buffaloes are at 4.21 kgs per day, which is only about 50% of the global average. Likewise the meat yield of most species is 20-60% lower than the world average.
The deficit of dry fodder, concentrates and green fodder currently is 10, 33and 35% respectively. Only 25% of forage seeds are available, that too of 15-20 years old varieties. Nearly 4% of total cultivated area utilized for fodder production is nearly constant form last three decades. The common grazing lands too have been deteriorating quantitatively and qualitatively.
Insufficient prophylactic vaccination and deworming. Frequent outbreaks of diseases like FMD, BQ, Mastitis, Brucellosis, etc. Continue to reduce productivity and production.
Available veterinary support in terms of infrastructure (for hospital and diagnostic labs) and technical manpower and insufficient.
Livestock sector receives only about 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors and about 4-5% of the total institutional credit flowing to agriculture and allied sectors. Insufficient funding, subsidy and bank loan as compared to other agricultural sectors.
Insufficient livestock insurance coverage – only 6% of the animal heads are provided insurance cover.
Livestock extension- Livestock extension remains grossly neglected. Only about 5% of the farm households in India do access information on livestock against 40.4% for crop farming
Lack of access to organized markets and meager profits distract farmers from investing into improved technologies and quality inputs. Informal market intermediaries often exploit the producers.
Mitigation Strategies:
- Enhancement of production and productivity
Per animal productivity of Indian bovine is lower than the world average. Productivity enhancement is important as it will increase the milk production, income of the farmers and also will reduce load on feed resources. Breeding through high genetic merit bulls would result into progenies with better milk potential. Hence high Genetic merit bulls production through scientific methods are important. Progeny Testing and Pedigree selection/Field performance projects are being implementation for high Genetic merit bull production of popular dairying breeds.
- Conservation of indigenous breeds and waste utilization
To promote indigenous cattle rearing and conservation in a scientific manner to propagate high genetic merit bulls of indigenous breeds. To optimize modern farm management practices and promote common resource management to utilize animal waste in economical way
(i) As per Integrated Sample Survey 90 million cattle & buffaloes are there, but their records on breeding, productivity, treatment and vaccination were not properly maintained by the State Animal Husbandry Departments. (ii) System for maintaining records on the animals was not evolved in the country. (iii) Due to absence of records on animal identification and traceability, it was not possible to separate healthy animals from diseased animals and animal products obtained from healthy animals and diseased animals. (iv) Lack of proper animal identification and traceability was major cause of the spread of animal as well as zoonotic diseases in the country. (v) Country was also facing difficulty in expanding trade of milk & milk products there was no established animal identification and traceability to system to meet sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
- Extension of AI coverage
Currently AI coverage in the India is around 33% i.e nearly one third of the animals are bred through AI and rest two third are either bred naturally or left un-bred. By increasing AI coverage the population can be brought under milk production and population can be increased substantially which would result into increase in milk production. It is envisaged to strengthen existing AI centre to make them capable to provide services at Farmers doorstep.
- Breed improvement by modern technology
Establishment/strengthening of Embryo Transfer and In-vitro Fertilization centers. Establishment of facility for sex sorted semen production. With mechanisation of agriculture, utility of male bovines have reduced. Farmers are not willing to maintain bullocks for agriculture or any other draft work. Hence, male calves born at farmer house have become a liability. Only female calves can be produced (with more than 90% accuracy) by use of latest technology like sex sorted semen in AI program. This technology can be increase the number of female animals thereby increasing income of farmers by sale of female or by sale of milk.
- Awareness program
In order to reward farmers and institutions who are engaged in scientific management of recognized indigenous cattle breeds, organization of fertility camps. Many breedable bovines face fertility/ gynecology issues. Financial support must be provided to organized fertility camps in villages to treat such animals and create awareness among farmer about best practices of dairying.
- Implementation of Government of India scheme for strengthening infrastructure for production of quality milk, procurement, processing and marketing of milk and milk products through following Dairy Development Schemes like.
National Programme for Dairy Development(NPDD), National Dairy Plan (Phase-I), Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme(DEDS), Support to Dairy Cooperatives, Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)
- Increasing funds, subsidy and bank loan
Bulk of the investment for livestock development comes from the state governments. The central government contributes about 10% to the total investment. There is hardly any private sector investment in animal husbandry. Investment linked tax incentives and attractive credit facility to private investors are missing which is needed to increase.
- Women Livestock Producer Training
Livestock production activities are largely in the hands of women. Appropriate policy and institutional arrangements would facilitate availing credit, insurance and other inputs and marketing services. Training women would reduce drudgery to women and improve animal productivity and enhance their economic returns.
- Minimum support price (MSP) for livestock products
Farmers are mainly concerned with the profit he gets from a particular commodity. Upward push in MSP in favour of proposed diversification livestock products will be a practical option to achieve this objective. Better market price realization is essential.
- Integrating all central and state subsidies
There is a need to reduce cost of inputs and need to be targeted to empower farmers through infrastructure development in rural areas to promote agribusiness, food processing, dairying, poultry, fisheries and other enterprises.
- Climate change and adaptation
The goal of increasing productivity without impacting environment can be attained through diversification and selection of inputs and management practices that foster positive ecological relationships and biological processes within the entire agro-ecosystem.
Other focused area:
Conservation of feeds and fodder
Season feed deficits can be reduced considerably or overcome through conservation and storage of feed resources’ during surplus seasons for use in lean periods. During the monsoon, plenty of green fodder is available in fields, on bunds, roadsides, and under forests covers. The surplus fodder can be conserved as hay in a dry form of as silage in a wet form.
Ration balancing / balanced feeding: Animal feed is the most crucial input in livestock production. Feed shortage, poor nutritional quality of feed and imbalanced feeding are the key problems that impinge on productivity growth. Expenditure on feed and fodder accounts for 60-70 per cent of the total cost of milk production. The productivity of feed input is inversely related to the cost of milk production. Field study in the semi-arid region of Rajasthan showed that an improvement in feed input productivity (defined as milk output per kg dry matter intake) by 12 per cent decreased the cost of milk production by 18 per cent in case of crossbred cows
Increase of forage availability: The strategy to increase forage availability throughout the year should be practiced. Intercropping or mixed cropping are widely used to minimized the risk of failure. Low water requiring and short duration forages (cowpea, cluster bean etc) can be intercropped with long duration corps such as sorghum, pearl millet. The small and marginal farmers are not able to allocate any part of their land exclusively for forage production. Fodder production can also be increased by raising fodder crops as catch crops between the main cropping seasons. Agro-forestry and silvi-pastoral model can also be a good option for increasing fodder production in dry land areas.
Efficient management of crop residues: Promote new food crop varieties having higher grain yield with stalks of superior fodder quality. Plant breeders and agronomists should be sensitized to breed and promote dual – purpose varieties of sorghum, maize, bajra, and a wide range of legumes.
Improvement of nutritional values: Presently, the major quantity of dry matter is contributed by paddy straws, wheat straw, maize stalk, sugarcane bagasse and trash which are of poor nutritional value, due to high fiber content. With new techniques, the quality of such fodder should be improved. This will also help in augmenting the fodder shortage.
Development of community wastelands: efforts should be made to develop pasture lands involving local communities through soil and water conservation, introduction of improved legumes and grasses, forage tree species and prevention of grazing.
Fodder banks: establishment of fodder banks in fodder scarcity regions thorough Dairy Federations and People’s Organizations can help small farmers to feed their livestock during scarcity. Fodder banks can play a critical role in timely supply of feed to livestock owners during the years of drought.
CONCLUSION:
Dairy farming in many developing countries including India is in its infancy but there are tremendous opportunities for improvements in individual (indigenous) animals and herd management on dairy farms with adaptation of scientific management and technologies as per the modern need. The progressive farmers or the farmers’ groups, with guidance from the public and private sectors, and professional associations in relation to breeding, feeding, health care and housing can adopt on a limited scale as the technology shows potential for raising yields and economic returns on fields with significant variability and for minimizing environmental degradation. Additional research needs to be undertaken to examine the adoption process for not only successful adoption of technology but also to solve the issues associated with the technology adoption in breeding programme (AI, MOET, ET. etc.). Further, right extension approaches and advisory services for the farmers interested in PDF needs to be undertaken for its effective application under different socio-economic and ecological conditions.
Further, there should be optimum budget allocation towards livestock related activities considering opportunities and role of intensification of livestock production system in providing sustainable livelihoods. Capacity building and participator involvement of stakeholders while streamlining the animal health services as community activity would better facilitate containment of animal diseases in rural areas. Further, use of technological advances along with appropriate management practices would help in providing healthier livelihoods and income from large and small ruminants. Improved cultivars along with efficient fodder utilization practices and integrated systems would augment fodder resources substantially in rural areas and reduces distress sale of animals during lean season improvement in services and delivery system along with creation of market linkages and better polices would drive the stake holder for adoption intensive systems. Thus results in increase the milk production and income of the farmers.
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