Role of Sheep Husbandry in Economic Upliftment of Farmers in India

Role of Sheep Husbandry in Economic Upliftment of Farmers in India

Kanaka K K¹, Nidhi Sukhija¹, P B Purohit¹, C K Prasad^2*, Arun Somagond³

1: ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana

2: ICAR-KVK, Kavadimatti, Raichur, Karnataka

3: ICAR- Indian veterinary Research Institute, UP

*: Corresponding author: xyz@gmail.com

 

Introduction:-     

Livestock sector bears important role in augmenting economic growth by generating income, employment and foreign exchange and contributing to the food and nutritional security. Livestock rearing in India is part of the life of rural people, well integrated with the socio-cultural fabric. This sector accounted for about 6.2 % of total GDP in 2022 (RBI, 2022).  Contribution of livestock in agricultural sector is on increasing trend. It was 14% in 1980-81, 23% in 1997-98 and 35% in 2001-02 (Birthal et al, 2012) , 25.6% in 2016 and at present it is 30.9% (in 2022). This sector is of particular importance for the livelihood of  small farmers who are generally constrained in the availability of land for cultivation. A great promise can be seen through this sector for increasing farmers’ income. As many parts of the country largely rely on this sector as one of the major sources of income, it is important to go through how the livestock incomes in different regions could be enhanced. Due to proximity of livestock with crop, sustainability problems can be seized by integrating livestock in the system (Singh et al., 2005). Classification based on farm size indicates that maximum farmers belonged to the small to medium category (69%). Landless and large farmers accounted for 5% and 16% respectively (Table1) (Jumrani and Birthal, 2015).

	Table 1: Different livestock species reared by different class of farmers

 

 

Landholding- size class	Share in land area (%)	Cattle  (%)	Buffalo (%)	Sheep  (%)	Goat  (%)
Landless	0	12.94	13.95	20.22	16.41
Marginal (<1 ha)	15.66	37.49	28.51	40.86	35.32
Small (1-2 ha)	17.43	17.99	18.67	14.57	17.58
Medium (2-4 ha)	23.15	16.6	18.46	13.06	15.02
Large (>4 ha)	43.76	14.98	20.41	11.28	15.68

 

Sheep as an important livestock species:

Sheep are small ruminants which play an important role in Indian economy and they are a source of livelihood and employment to millions of rural households. Sheep rearing contributes around 8.5% of total value of output from livestock economy especially in the arid and semi-arid and mountainous area where crops and dairy farming are not economical (CSWRI, 2007). Sheep rearing in India is an inseparable component of mixed farming system in view of the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country where per capita land holdings is hardly 0.2 hectares. Sheep in India are predominantly maintained on natural vegetation on common growing lands, waste lands and uncultivated lands stubbles of cultivated crops and top feeds. Sheep occupy an important place in the agricultural economy of many countries. The functional contributions of sheep are meat, milk, fibre, skin, etc.

Role of Sheep in Economy:-

Sheep occupy an important place in the agricultural economy of many countries. China, Australia, India and Iran have the largest modern sheep flocks. They serve both local and exportation needs for wool and mutton. They play a major role in many local economies, which may be niche markets focussed on organic or sustainable agriculture and local food customers (Cuming, 2008). In developing countries like India sheep flocks are a part of subsistence agriculture rather than a system of trade. Sheep provide a wide array of raw materials.

• Wool was one of the first raw materials for textiles. However, in the late 20th century wool prices began to fall dramatically as a result of the popularity of and cheap prices of synthetic fibres. Fleeces are used as material for making alternative products such as wool insulation.
• Sheep industry is found most profitable enterprise in relation to sale of meat.
• Sheep farmers make profit from live sheep by providing lambs for youth programs and competition at agricultural shows. This is often a dependable avenue for the sale of sheep.
• Farmers also choose to focus on a particular breed of sheep in order to sell registered pure bred animals as well as provide a ram on rental service for breeding.
• Another option for deriving profit from live sheep is the rental of flocks for grazing. These services are hired in order to keep unwanted vegetation down in public spaces and to lessen fire hazard.
• Sheep skin is used for making footwear, clothes, rugs and other products.
• By-products from slaughter of sheep are also of value, sheep fallow can be used in candle and soap making.
• Sheep bone and cartilage has been used to furnish carved items such as dice and buttons as well as rendered glue and gelatine.
• Sheep intestine is formed into sausage casings.
• Sheep droppings which are high in cellulose have been sterilized and mixed with traditional pulp materials to make paper.
• Of the by-products of sheep lanolin is the most valuable; the waterproof fatty substance found naturally in sheep’s wool and used as a base for innumerable cosmetics and other products.

 

Economy in sheep rearing like other livestock farming is subservient to genetic cum production potential and judicious management so as to reduce feeding cost without lowering nutritional level, sheep meat or mutton is the main revenue earning source for the shepherd. Sheep milk contribution to the sheep production ranks after meat, wool, manure, making of dairy sheep rearing an economically viable entity. In sheep farming 20 to 40 percent of the income is from the wool to national income (Das et al., 2020). Indian carpet wool and carpet still hold sway in the international market. Landless and marginal farmers mainly earn by selling their small ruminants (Figure 1).

 

 

  Easy management practices

Sheep have distinct economic advantages when compared with other livestock. Sheep do not require expensive housing as in the case of chickens or pigs. Sheep consume plants such as noxious weeds that most other animals will not touch. Sheep produce more young at a faster rate. Compared to most of livestock species the cost of raising sheep is not necessarily tied to the price of feed crops such as grain, soya beans and corn. A small farmer can obtain higher profitability in view of these factors and lower cost of quality sheep with lower overhead for sheep producers. Sheep rearing is especially beneficial for independent producers including family farms with limited resources as the sheep industry is one of the few types of animal agriculture that has not been vertically integrated by agribusiness. The advantages of sheep rearing are as follows:

• Sheep do not need expensive buildings to house them and on the other hand require less labour than other kinds of livestock.
• The foundation stock is relatively cheap and the flock can be multiplied rapidly.
• Sheep are economical converter of grass into meat and wool.
• Sheep will eat varied kinds of plants compared to other kind of livestock. This makes them excellent weed destroyer.
• Unlike goats, sheep hardly damage any tree.
• The production of wool, meat and manure provides three different sources of income to the shepherd.
• The structure of their lips helps them to clean grains fallen or lost at harvest time and thus convert waste feed into profitable products.
• Mutton is one kind of meat towards which there is no prejudice by any community in India and further development of superior breeds for mutton production will have a great scope in the developing economy of India.

 

Relationships between the socioeconomic characters and flock size

In a study conducted by ICAR- CSWRI, Bikaner, the flock size of sheep was positively correlated with the number of cattle and buffalo. Similarly operational holding and family size had positive linear correlation with the flock size. The caste variables were given values ranging from 1 to 4 for the GC (General Category), OBC (Other Backward classes), SC (Scheduled Castes) and ST (Scheduled Tribes) and the correlation coefficient was negative and significant. This indicates that the higher caste groups own more number of sheep than the lower castes. The family size was positively correlated with the number of all the livestock possibly because the labour demand for livestock rearing can be met from the higher family size.

 

Employment generation in sheep farming 

Sheep husbandry is one of the major employment provider for the rural population. The total labour utilisation in sheep husbandry is given in Table 1. The overall average labour employed is 581 man days per annum. This comprises of 80% male labour, 12 % female labour and 8 % child labour all calculated in terms of man-days. The labour utilisation in the small, medium and large flocks are 549, 582 and 604 man-days respectively. The role of the female labour is higher in the small flocks group, who generally have low family size. Around 99% of the labour required is absorbed from the family itself (Table 2), explaining potency of sheep husbandry in terms of labour generation.

	Table 2: Utilization of labour in production (man days/ annum).

 

Category	Total labour
	Male (%)	Female (%)	Child (%)	Total man days
Small	77.5	15.4	7.1	548.8
Medium	83.2	9.6	7.3	582.4
Large	79.6	12.3	8.1	603.6
Overall	80	12	8	580.5

 

Income generation from the sheep rearing and other agricultural activities 

In one of the study conducted by ICAR-CSWRI, the cost and return of the sheep rearing activities were calculated and is presented in Table 3. The major cost items were fodder and feed, medicine, hired labour and interest on the variable cost. The imputed value of the family labour was not considered as the families had adequate labour supply and opportunity cost of the family labour was near zero except during peak agricultural season. Moreover, sheep husbandry is a way of life rather than a business enterprise. Inclusion of imputed value of family

	Table 3: Cost and return in Sheep production (Rupees/flock/annum)

 

 

Item	Category of farmers			Overall (n = 54)
	Small (n = 24)	Medium (n = 43)	Large (n = 92)
A.   Expenditure
Fodder and feed	1132	1602	2933	1974
Medicine	557	876	1513	1004
Hired labour	116	102	806	343
Interest	119	155	315	199
Total variable cost	2115	2735	5567	3520
B.   Returns
Animal sale	9588	17962	39642	22987
Milk	604	574	1582	921
Wool	1363	1768	4106	2445
Manure	840	1518	3198	1899
Total returns	12395	21822	48528	28252
C.   Return over variable cost (ROVC)	10280	19087	42961	24732
D.   ROVC per animal	428.3	440.2	470.23	455.8

 

labour in cost of sheep rearing results in cost escalation mainly due to the higher labour requirement for grazing.  The overall average variable cost per flock was Rs. 3520, of which major items were the feed and fodder (56%) and medicine (29 %). The hired labour cost and the interest on working capital accounted for 10% and 6% respectively. The percentage share of expenditure for the different sheep classes was similar. The major return items were animal sale, milk of the sheep, wool and manure together giving a return of Rs. 28252 for a flock of 54. The percentage shares of these heads were 81, 3, 9 and 7 respectively. The return over variable cost (net return/ profit) was Rs. 24732 giving a per animal return of Rs 456 per annum. The net return for the small, medium and large sheep flocks were 10280, 19087 and 42961 respectively with the corresponding per animal net return of   Rs. 428, 440 and 470 respectively (Table 3).

 

Productivity of Indian sheep

Productivity of Indian sheep is lower than those of agriculturally more advanced countries. However, taking into account the nutritional and physical environment of Indian sheep their productivity cannot be considered as inefficient. Major reasons for low productivity of Indian sheep are;

• Technical hurdles
• Poor availability of quality rams
• Low conception rate
• Lack of knowledge on nutrition
• Inadequate knowledge on disease management
• High rate of abortion
• Constraints with Input
• High cost of feed
• Fodder scarcity
• Unavailability of medicine
• High cost of medicine
• Water scarcity
• Issues with Market
• Low wool price
• Poor sale value of sheep milk
• No regular market for live sheep
• Poor infrastructure for marketing
• Lack of market information
• Social problems
• Low literacy rate of farmers
• Impaired access to extension facility
• Low prestige associated with sheep rearing

 

References:

Birthal, P. S. and Taneja, V. K. (2012). Operationalizing the pro-poor potential of livestock:          Issues and strategies. Indian Journal of Animal Science. 82(5): 441-447.

Cuming Marius (2008), Live Sheep Ship-Shape. Queensland Register, 24-01-2008.

DAHD, Annual report, 2019

Das, A., Raju, R. and Patnaik, N.M., 2020. Present Scenario and Role of Livestock Sector in        Rural Economy of India: A Review.

Jumrani, J. and Birthal, P. S. (2015). Livestock, Women and Child Nutrition in Rural India,          Agricultural Economic Research Review, 28(2): 223-246.

RBI, 2022—Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Handbook%20of%20Statistics%20on%20Indian%20Economy

Sharma V.P., Delgado C.L., Staal, S. and Singh, R.V. (2003). Structural Changes in the Dairy      Sector and Equity Issues in Livestock Industrialization Project: Phase II – Policy,         Technical, and Environmental Determinants and Implications of the Scaling-Up of      Milk Production in India. FAO, Rome.

Singh, N. P., Kumar, R. and Singh, R. P. (2005). Dynamics of bovine economy in Indo-   Gangetic Plains of India: Issues in growth, equity and sustainability. Agricultural        Economics Research Review, 18(1): 51-70.

Suresh, A. D. C. Gupta J. S. Mann V. K. Singh. Sheep production in semiarid zones-        management and economics, Research Bulletin, CSWRI, 2007.