LOW PRODUCTIVITY OF INDIAN DAIRY ANIMALS: CHALLENGES AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
Dr Shashi Pradhan
Assistant Professor
Department of Very. Medicine CoVSc and Animal Husbandry, NDVSU Jabalpur
Millions of people in India rely on dairying for their food, nutrition, and means of subsistence. According to estimations from the FAO from 2011, investing in the livestock sector in India yields a return of USD 4.7 for every USD invested, compared to USD 3.6 in agriculture and USD 2.9 in the manufacturing and service sectors.
The White Revolution of the Indian dairy industry has resulted in increased milk output, animal protein security, and the fight against hunger. India quickly became the world’s largest milk producer after gaining independence. It produced 222 million tons in 2022–2023 and is predicted to reach 628 million tons by 2047 as a result of rising dairy demand from an expanding population, rising purchasing power, and an increased emphasis on nutrition. India produces 24 per cent of the total milk produced globally. With the rise of human population, climate change, faster globalisation, and reduction in the cultivable land, Indian dairy sector, despite the multi-faceted challenges and shortfalls, has shown its sustainability in Indian perspective.
Nutritionists estimate that a healthy individual need 380 milliliters of milk each day. About 48% of the entire milk production is used as fresh liquid milk, and the other 52% is transferred to non-producing areas where it is handled by the unorganized sector to the extent that 50% is handled by cooperatives, 20% is handled by the private organized sector, and 30% is handled by the unorganized sector. India possesses the best and largest buffalo germplasm in the world. The world’s best milk buffalo is said to be the Indian Murrah breed. The number of buffaloes in India has grown consistently throughout the years, from 43.4 million in 1951 to 109.9 million in 2016, which is indicative of the country’s milk producers’ preference for buffaloes, 53 cattle are in India.
The low productivity of Indian dairy animals stems from various challenges, including genetic limitations, poor nutrition, inadequate healthcare, and inefficient management practices. Here’s an overview of these challenges and potential mitigation strategies:
1.Genetic Limitations:
Many Indian cattle breeds have lower milk production potential compared to exotic breeds like Holstein and Jersey.
Mitigation Strategy: Promote selective breeding programs to improve the genetic potential of indigenous breeds through crossbreeding with high-yielding exotic breeds while conserving the unique genetic characteristics of indigenous breeds. Additionally, invest in research to develop genetically superior indigenous breeds with higher milk production potential.
2.Poor Nutrition:
Dairy animals often have inadequate access to quality feed and fodder, leading to suboptimal milk production.
Mitigation Strategy: Promote improved feeding practices by providing balanced diets rich in protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals. Encourage farmers to cultivate high-yielding fodder crops, establish silage-making facilities, and adopt scientific feeding techniques.
3.Inadequate Healthcare:
Diseases such as mastitis, foot and mouth disease, and parasitic infections are prevalent among dairy animals in India, leading to reduced productivity.
Mitigation Strategy: Strengthen veterinary healthcare services by increasing the number of trained veterinarians, establishing veterinary hospitals and dispensaries, and conducting regular health check-ups and vaccination drives. Educate farmers on disease prevention and management practices.
4.Inefficient Management Practices:
Lack of proper management practices, such as poor hygiene, inadequate housing, and suboptimal milking techniques, contribute to low productivity.
Mitigation Strategy: Provide training and extension services to farmers on improved management practices, including proper housing, sanitation, and milking hygiene. Encourage the adoption of mechanized milking equipment to improve efficiency and reduce stress on animals.
5.Market Access and Infrastructure:
Limited access to markets and inadequate infrastructure for milk collection, processing, and marketing hinder dairy farmers’ ability to realize the full economic potential of their animals.
Mitigation Strategy: Invest in the development of dairy cooperatives and milk collection centers to provide farmers with access to organized markets and fair prices for their milk. Improve cold chain infrastructure for transporting and storing milk to minimize spoilage and ensure quality.
6.Climate Change Impacts:
Climate change-related factors such as extreme weather events, water scarcity, and heat stress can adversely affect dairy animal productivity.
Mitigation Strategy: Promote climate-smart dairy farming practices, including efficient water management, adoption of heat stress mitigation measures such as shade provision and cooling systems, and diversification of income sources to build resilience against climate change impacts.
CONSTRAINTS
The major constraints the dairy sector is currently facing include:
1.Large population of non-descript cattle and buffalo with low productivity
- Huge gap between requirement and availability of feed and fodder
- Adverse impact of climate change, drought and heat on milk production and quality
- Infectious and non-infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic diseases: poor animal health, frequent outbreaks of transboundary diseases, shortage of vaccines and diagnostics, and large number of diseases being transmitted from animals to human (zoonotic diseases)
- Infertility/sub-fertility, silent-heat and reproductive diseases and disorders in dairy animals
- Late sexual maturity of both male and female bovines; (vii) limited availability of high
quality male germplasm (breeding bulls, as well as frozen quality semen, sexed embryos/semen)
- Increasing infertility among crossbred animals
- Low processing and value-addition of milk
- Inadequate value-chains.
Objectives of Dairy Sector in India
- Creating a flood of Milk by Increase production.
- Increase the incomes of the rural population.
- Provide milk to consumers at fair prices.
Animal breed
Pure exotic breeds with great milk production capabilities are Jersey and Holstein-Friesians. However, there are certain drawbacks to raising exotic animals, particularly in India’s hot and muggy climate. They have a low susceptibility to tropical diseases and typically consume large amounts of feed, making them costly to keep. Conversely, native breeds produce less milk than alien cows, so the revenue from milk sales is lower. It does, however, offer certain benefits, including as low feed consumption, cheap maintenance costs, improved environmental adaptation, and a high tolerance to topical bovine disease. The best qualities from native and exotic breeds are combined in crossbreds, which thrive in tropical climates. Indian cattle breeds like Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi and Tharparkar are important for milk production and buffalo breeds like Jaffrabadi and Murrah are very popular among farmers in India
Feed
A scientific feeding practice with adequate nutrition is important for proper growth of dairy animal. An animal with less than 5 litre milk production offers 15 kg green fodder, 5 kg dry fodder, and 2 kg concentrate, while animal having 5-10 litres of milk production may be given 17.5 kg green fodder, 5.5 kg dry fodder and 3 kg concentrate. Increasing concentrates after calving with chopping forage into small pieces, and peak period between 70-140 days after calving is important. Supplemented feed in the diet should 16-20 % crude protein, and sufficient crude fibre must be provided to pregnant and lactating animals.
Forages such as hybrid napier, berseem maize, lucerne etc. should be produced at least a proportion of the required forages in farmer’s own land in order to reduce the cost of production. Feed ingredients such as wheat busa, oil cakes, molasses, poultry waste, and feed additives minerals and vitamins are provided to the dairy animals. Legume and non-legume fodder is maintained in the ratio of 1:3. Azolla containing 20-30% protein is provided to the dairy animals. An area specific mineral mixture can be fed to the animals in order to reduce the mineral deficiency of animals from mineral deficient zones.
Care and management of milch animals
This include supply of green fodder, extra concentrate of 1 kg for every 2 to 2.5 kg of milk, and training cow to let down milk without calf suckling. The other management practices include regular exercise for keeping animal fit, grooming for animal coat clean, glossy hair, stimulate urination and clean milk production; care in holding, control of bad habits , manure disposal and bedding materials, isolation of sick animals, insuring animals, and disposal of carcass are essential for improvement of animal’s productivity.
Housing management
Changes in housing management have been made for productivity, health, milk quality, reproduction, animal well-being, and farm profitability. All housing systems are moving toward improved cow comfort. Housing that allows natural expression of behaviour while maintaining cow cleanliness and health may improve the lives of cows and farmers. Now a days free stalls and compost bedded brands are popular due to distinct advantages
Animal Health
Animal health is utmost important priority for dairy animals. Important health management practices include animal welfare (free from hunger, thrust, malnutrition, discomfort for pain, injury), environment (over grazing, climate change, pollution, green house gas emission) and vaccination to animals against diseases like FMD, BQ, HS, and anthrax are the key indicators for management of dairy animals. Rapid changes to high energy feed may cause acute indigestion leading to acidosis that impairs rumen function and digestion.
Green house gas emission
Compared to carbon dioxide, methane has a warming potential that is 20 times greater. The methane emissions from livestock in India accounted for 15.1% of the total methane emissions worldwide. In 2010, enteric methane accounted for 91.8 percent of India’s total greenhouse gas emissions, with manure nitrous oxide (1.15%) and methane (7.04%) following closely behind. Cattle led the way in India in terms of enteric methane emissions, accounting for over half (49.1%) of the total methane emissions. They were followed by buffalo (42.8%), goats (5.38%), sheep (2.59%), and other animals (0.73%).
As a result of animal population growth spurred by rising demand for meat and dairy products, particularly in developing nations, livestock in India is expected to contribute approximately 15.7 percent of the world’s enteric methane release by the year 2050, unless appropriate GHG mitigation measures are not implemented in these countries. The livestock industry in India may be responsible for as much as 0.69 millikelvin of the 20-year surface temperature increase—roughly 14% of the entire increase brought on by the worldwide livestock industry.
Livestock emissions have a detrimental effect that is not limited to India but rather is worldwide. With more than 500 million animals, India is the leader among nations that are heavily dependent on livestock, like Brazil, China, and the US. Of India’s livestock, 98 percent of methane emissions were determined to originate from cattle and buffalo. The primary element affecting atmospheric methane levels is the increase in the number of cattle. Methane levels could be lowered, nevertheless, by environmental risk management techniques such as increased animal productivity, population stabilization, improved feed, and manure utilization.
Additional interventions include feeding the animals feed supplements, treating low-quality roughages to boost their nutrient content, composting animal waste products, and setting up a community biogas plant to safely and profitably dispose of animal waste. The Government of India (GoI) introduced the Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARDHAN) program as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural). The plan would be centered on handling and processing solid waste and cow dung in farms to produce biogas, compost, and bio-CNG. The Gobar-Dhan plan provides income for the villages in addition to improving their hygiene.
Milk pricing
The fact that cattle producers are not receiving a fair price for their milk presents another significant obstacle. The profit is quite small when compared to the cost of manufacturing per liter of milk. The cost of production for a nondescript milch cow is Rs. 26.76/litre, for a milch buffalo it is Rs. 23.17/litre, and for a crossbred cow it is Rs. 19.04. One sensible milk price strategy that might be suggested is one that allows farmers to recoup their input costs. It is necessary to structurally reform the dairy cooperatives with the backing of the National Dairy Development Board. Improved marketing facilities and supply chain management for animal products could be the third potential intervention. Other states, including as Karnataka, Haryana, and Telangana, may also provide farmers with incentives during the months when surplus production causes milk prices to decline.
Challenges faced by the Livestock sector in India
Improving the productivity of farm animals is one of the major challenges. The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50 per cent of the global average. The frequent outbreaks of diseases like Foot and Mouth Diseases, Black Quarter infection; Influenza, etc. continue to affect Livestock health and lowers productivity. India’s huge population of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gases emission. Reducing greenhouse gases through mitigation and adaptation strategies will be a major challenge.
Crossbreeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to enhance the genetic potential of different species has been successful only to a limited extent. Limited Artificial Insemination services owing to a deficiency in infrastructure quality germ plasm, and technical manpower coupled with poor conception rate following artificial insemination have been the major impediments. After more than three decades of crossbreeding, the crossbred population is only 16.6 per cent in cattle, 21.5 per cent in pigs and 5.2 per cent in sheep. The sector will also come under significant adjustment pressure to the emerging market forces. Though globalization will create avenues for increased participation in international trade, stringent food safety, and quality norms would be required. The livestock sector did not receive the policy and financial attention it deserved. The sector received only about 12 per cent of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors, which is disproportionately lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP. The sector has been neglected by financial institutions.
The share of livestock in the total agricultural credit has hardly ever exceeded 4% in the total (short term, medium-term and long-term). The institutional mechanisms to protect animals against risk are not strong enough. Currently, only 6 per cent of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover. Livestock extension has remained grossly neglected in the past. Only about 5 per cent of the farm households in India access information on livestock technology. These indicate a sub-optimal outreach of the financial and information delivery systems. Livestock derives a major part of its energy requirement from agricultural by-products and residues. Hardly 5 per cent of the cropped area is utilized to grow fodder.
Market scenario in the India dairy sector
Increasing preference for a healthy lifestyle is expected to nudge the Indian dairy industry to grow at a compounded 15% annually till 2020 The sector is touted to emerge as a Rs. 9.4 lakh crore industry – which presents a immense opportunity for businesses. Significantly, over the last few years, several well established Indian companies and multinationals have made efforts to move in into the sector. This has resulted in a slew of new and innovative products being launched at the upper-end of the spectrum. However, the dynamics of the Indian dairy industry is very different from that of more developed countries. Hence, amidst the growing output, a serious health issue is also looming large, which is primarily due to our supply chain inefficiencies.
Existing Infrastructure facilities
Veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, and rural veterinary dispensaries (veterinary primary health centers), AI centers- AI breeding facilities with liquid or frozen semen, freezing, Semen banks – semen collection, evaluation and facilities with adequate facilities for storing, of frozen semen. Cooperatives – primary / secondary societies for meeting the farmers demands and provision of inputs inclusive of soft term, short term and medium term loans, Extension services – Animal husbandry and dairying, Chilling centers – Milk collection and chilling units and transportation to processing units. Availability of manpower.
Drought Power
Worldwide, animals are stills very important source of power for agriculture operations and for transportation of goods and people. It is widely used in developing countries like India. Bullocks, buffaloes, horses, mules and camel are very widely use in our country for drought purpose and their role in saving of energy and there by the most precious foreign exchange. It is estimated to be Rs. 45,000 crore per year. It should be emphasized that depleting levels of fossils fuels may slow down or even reverse the mechanization trends witnessed even in developed countries. India is one of the highest milk producing country then also per capita milk production in Indian is much low compare to other milk producing county. India is not able to meet its local milk demand. The average milk production per cow and buffalo per year in India is too low. The cost of milk in India is too high. Indian cattle farm is working on very low efficiency.
Due to lack of knowledge, lack of proper medical history the mortality of cattle is too high. Cattle farmer also face problem in maintaining vaccination and health history of his livestock. Other major challenges of dairy industry are inefficient supply chain and traditional way of rearing cattle. For the revival of industry now it become necessary to adopt modernization in cattle farms, Increase the use of technology and shifting towards organized way of cattle rearing. It is time to restructure and revitalize the present institutional set-up in the livestock sector, enhance institution-level efficiency, and promote new institutional models to handle the emerging challenges in livestock sector development. The efforts should aim to promote and nurture the grass-root level participatory bodies all over the state as the organic link between the animal husbandry department and the small holders. Dairy industry is poised to play a major role in our nation’s economy in the years to come. The value of milk is set to achieve a new boom. The industry’s major contribution in 4070 providing newer avenues for employment, both direct and indirect, and its role in improving the nutritional standards of our people also add to the importance that needs to be attached to this sector during the 21st century.
Significance of Dairy Sector in India
- One of the most significant industries in India’s economy, the dairy sector not only supports the country’s economy but also employs millions of rural households.
- Poor and landless farmers actively engage in dairying as a vital source of income in developing economies. More than 500 million people live in poverty, and many of them are small and marginal dairy sector farmers, according to the FAO 2018 report.
- 7.7 million people are employed solely in the raising of cattle and buffalo, and of those, 69 percent are women, making up 5.72 percent of all women employed in the nation. Of these, 93 percent reside in rural areas.
- Farmers benefit greatly from a growth rate of 6% annually in milk output, especially during times of drought and flooding. When crops fail due to natural disasters, milk output increases because farmers place more emphasis on animal husbandry during that time.
- India has greatly benefited from milk and related products in lowering the levels of malnutrition and undernourishment there. As a result, the dairy industry is crucial to supplying the nation’s growing population with the nutrients it needs.
