LOW PRODUCTIVITY OF INDIAN DAIRY ANIMALS: CHALLENGES AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
Dr. Rambabu.D, MVSc, Ph.D, MBA.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Poultry Science, College of Veterinary Science, Korutla
PV Narsimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University
Jagtial dist – 505 326. Telangana State.
INTRODUCTION
Livestock plays a vital role in the Indian economy. Approximately 20.5 million people make their living from the livestock industry. India has an abundance of livestock. 25.6% of the GDP from agriculture and 4.11% of the GDP overall come from the livestock industry. India possesses the world’s largest buffalo population, as well as the world’s largest cattle herd (535.78 million). The most important number of cows in the country is 192.49 million, followed by buffalo (109.85 million). The importance of dairy animals has been widely recognised. Our country is endowed with abundant dairy resources. Dairy farming is a complex interaction of numerous factors that influence productivity, reproduction, the environment and management. Dairy cooperatives encompass over 60,000 villages across India, however only 12-14 percent of total milk production is channelized through the organised sector. As a result, concerted efforts should be directed at unorganised dairy farmers, providing them with required inputs and encouraging them to adopt newer milk production technologies. India has become the world’s greatest milk producer, although its proportion of the global milk trade is quite small. This study discusses an attempt to identify farmer concerns and remedy them in order to improve export revenues and increase returns to dairy farmers. Several guidelines have also been provided for effective dairy husbandry identification and formulation.
Since the creation of mankind, the primary focus has been on the search for sustenance for survival. Thus, nature offered a constant supply of food to the human population. During the prehistoric period, humans used plants and animals as nourishment. Animal husbandry became a subsidiary of agriculture as a result of subsequent animal domestication and the evolution of crop cultivating operations. In Western countries, animal husbandry is now known as ‘Animal Agriculture’. However, in recent years, the dairy business has demonstrated the ability to sustain itself as a viable enterprise in a variety of areas, displacing agriculture’s traditional dominant position. This trend is seen all over the world. Fortunately, our country has abundant dairy resources.
Cattle and buffaloes have the biggest population in India (Annual Report, 2000). Dairy is a key driver of socioeconomic transformation for rural poor in our country. Milk is our country’s second-largest agricultural commodity, after rice. Given the nutritional benefits of milk protein, our historic practice of include milk in our daily diets has been one of the most critical elements in preventing millions of our country’s youngsters from acquiring malnutrition syndrome.
Since the ever-increasing human population is making scarcely accessible land more scarcer, our goal to increase milk output should be to improve animal productivity rather than increase the number of bovine heads. To ensure significant growth in milk output, concerted efforts should be directed towards dairy farmers who contribute the majority of our country’s milk production, providing necessary input and encouraging them to adopt newer technologies in breeding, housing, feeding, rearing, and health care. Furthermore, despite becoming the world’s largest major milk producer with the lowest milk production costs, second only to New Zealand, India’s part of the global milk trade remains quite small. Export revenues from ghee, skim and whole milk powders are increasing, as are imports of speciality cheeses and butter oil. To improve our export earnings through this sector and ensure better returns to dairy farmers in the most favourable environment created by the WTO agreement, research efforts should be directed towards new product development through biotechnology. Furthermore, increased compliance with milk food legislation and international standards would help to improve export opportunities for dairy products. The Indian dairy sector is extremely highly developed on modern lines. It has created technologies and engineering capabilities to the point that it can sell them to other countries.
Issues in the Indian Dairy Sector
Over the last three decades, India has swiftly emerged as one of the world’s greatest producers of milk, accounting for 18.5% of global milk production. However, inefficiencies in our dairy supply chain constitute a severe health concern that must be addressed promptly.
Developing a Sustainable Dairy Project
Consider the following facts when designing and developing new dairy husbandry and veterinary programmes that will be sustainable over time.
Dairy Cattle Population
The country has 108.7 million buffalo and 190.9 million cattle. The first step is to determine the current number of dairy animals in the various dairy subzones of the country using available records such as census reports of both human and dairy cattle populations, survey reports, and actually conducting a sample survey. With these records, we can obtain the necessary information for identifying and developing suitable dairy development projects and schemes at the grassroots level. The data can be classified as follows: Cattle, buffalo, total males and females, females in milk, dry, and pregnant, male breeding bulls, young males and females, and so on. Work animals: geographical need and drought animal availability.
Dairy farming issues in India
Shortage of feed/fodder
Breeding system of dairy animals
Education and training
Hygiene Conditions
Marketing & Pricing
The challenges confronting India’s livestock sector
Improving farm animal productivity is one of the primary challenges. Indian cattle’s average yearly milk yield is 1172 kg, which is barely around half of the global average. Frequent outbreaks of infections such as Foot and Mouth Disease, Black Quarter Infection, Influenza, and others continue to harm livestock health and output. The vast ruminant population in India contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The reduction of greenhouse gases through mitigation and adaptation techniques will be a big issue. Crossbreeding indigenous species with foreign stocks to increase the genetic potential of diverse species has been only partially effective. The main hindrance to artificial insemination services has been a lack of quality germ plasm, infrastructure, and technical people, as well as a low conception rate after artificial insemination. After over three decades of crossbreeding, the crossbred population in cattle is just 16.6%, 21.5 percent in pigs, and 5.2% in sheep. The sector will also face significant adjustment pressure from emerging market dynamics. Though globalisation will provide opportunities for expanded participation in international trade, strict food safety and quality standards will be required. The livestock sector has not received the policy and financial attention it deserves. The sector received only approximately 12% of total state expenditure on agriculture and related sectors, which is disproportionately low given its contribution to agricultural GDP. Financial institutions have disregarded the sector. Livestock has rarely accounted for more than 4% of overall agricultural financing. Institutional systems for protecting animals from harm are inadequate. Currently, only 6% of animal heads (excluding poultry) have insurance coverage. Historically, livestock extension has been woefully neglected. Approximately 5% of agricultural households in India have access to information on livestock technologies. These results suggest that the financial and information distribution systems are not reaching their full potential. Livestock gets a significant portion of its energy from agricultural by-products and leftovers. Fodder production accounts for less than 5% of cropland.
India has an 11% shortfall in dry fodder, 35% in green fodder, and 28% in concentrate feed. The communal grazing areas have been declining in both quantity and quality. Indian milk producers must minimise the cost of milk production. The high cost of milk production in India stems from the lower average milk yield of 987 kg/year compared to Denmark, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Israel. As a result, farmers in other nations must spend significantly less money than farmers in India. This high output was attained with optimal feed, water management, and housing, in addition to exceptional grade germplasm. Israel cows have maintained this high milk output by foregoing substantial fat content. Also, Israel has a larger per capita fat production than India.
Market scenario in the Indian dairy sector
The growing demand for a healthy lifestyle is predicted to push the Indian dairy business to grow at a compounded 15% yearly till 2020. The market is expected to grow to a value of Rs. 9.4 lakh crore, creating enormous opportunities for firms. Significantly, in recent years, several well-established Indian enterprises and foreign corporations have attempted to enter the market. However, the characteristics of India’s dairy business diverge significantly from those of more developed countries. As a result, despite the increased output, a severe health hazard looms large, owing mostly to supply chain inefficiencies.
Category of Holdings
One group includes landless agricultural workers, as well as marginal, small, medium, and big farmers. Another factor is the extent to which natural resources such as land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship are used.
Existing Infrastructure Facilities
Veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, and rural veterinary dispensaries (veterinary primary health care facilities).
AI centres are AI breeding facilities that use liquid or frozen semen.
Semen banks are institutions that collect, evaluate, and freeze semen, as well as provide suitable storage facilities for frozen semen.
Cooperatives are primary and secondary societies that address the needs of farmers by providing inputs such as soft, short, and medium-term loans.
Extension services for animal husbandry and dairying.
Chilling centres are facilities for collecting and chilling milk, as well as transporting it to processing facilities.
Availability of man power
Drought Power
Animals continue to be a vital source of power for agricultural operations as well as the transportation of commodities and people around the world. It is commonly utilised in underdeveloped nations, such as India. Bullocks, buffaloes, horses, mules, and camels are widely used in our country for drought relief and play an important role in energy conservation, providing the most valuable foreign exchange. It is estimated to be Rs. 45,000 crore annually. It should be noted that decreasing fossil fuel reserves may halt or even reverse the mechanisation trends observed in industrialised countries. Although India is one of the world’s largest milk producers, per capita milk production in India is significantly lower than in other milk producing countries. India is unable to meet its domestic milk demand. The average milk yield per cow and buffalo per year in India is insufficient. The cost of milk in India is prohibitively high. The Indian cattle farm operates with relatively poor efficiency. Cattle mortality is significant due to a lack of understanding and an appropriate medical history. Cattle farmers also struggle to keep track of their livestock’s immunisation records and health histories. Other key issues for the dairy business include an inefficient supply network and archaic cattle rearing practices. For the resurrection of the industry, it is now important to modernise cattle farms, increase the use of technology, and change to an organised method of cow rearing. It is essential to reorganise and revitalise the livestock sector’s current institutional framework, improve institutional efficiency, and promote new institutional models to address rising difficulties in livestock sector development. The efforts should focus on promoting and nurturing grass-roots participation bodies throughout the state as an organic link between the animal husbandry department and smallholders. The dairy industry is positioned to play a significant role in our country’s economy in the years ahead. The value of milk is poised for a new boom.
How can Industry overcome these challenges?
Dairy consultancy services
Dairy consultant services propose best practices for milk production and procurement, products and procedures, as well as machinery design and maintenance support. They prepare techno-economic feasibility reports for dairy firms that include the entire milk production ecosystem, as well as give R&D help for product processes, quality assurance, and product testing, including feed analysis and evaluation.
SOPs in the dairy industry:
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in dairy are instructional roadmaps for all dairy activities. Dairy enterprises around the world employ process automation to address the inadequacies of traditional approaches. Dairy consultants aim to guarantee that SOPs and process automation covers the following facets of dairy enterprises, i.e.
- General herd health management including vaccination and treatments
- Reproduction management (deliveries through timed AI protocols)
- Milking management (procedures, parlour setup, cleaning, sanitation)
- Veterinary Assistance
- Productivity management (including breed selection and tracking)
- Feed management (including newborn calves)
- Waste management (including newborn calves)
- Maintenance crew
- Organizational blueprint (including manpower utilization)
- Production and supply chain safety
- Location management (diagram or maps of where animals and facilities are located)
Summary of the Article
Cattle farms are suffering from a number of issues and have not embraced modernity despite their rapid expansion. For roughly 8.8% of India’s population, it also provides employment. Large amounts of livestock are available in India. 4.11% of the GDP and 25.6% of the GDP of agriculture are contributed by the livestock industry. Across the world, the crucial industry of livestock production provides a significant portion of the revenue for rural disadvantaged communities. Millions of people in our country rely mostly on livestock for food, money, draught power and fertiliser, since crop growing faces difficulties. India is the world’s top producer of milk, accounting for 17% of global output. India’s milk output reached 187.7 million tonnes in 2018–19, from the 17 million tonnes in 1951. The country’s milk sector has an annual growth rate of 6.5%, which is over three times the global average. A variety of interrelated aspects that affect input management, longevity of life, and the environment for reproduction and production come together to form sustainable dairy farming. Milk production is a livestock enterprise in which small-scale farmers can successfully engage in order to improve their livelihoods.
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