Some future Prospective for Indian Goat Entrepreneur’s
Dr.A.K.Wankar* and Dr. A. Mishra1
*Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Physiology, College of Veterinary & Animal sciences [MAFSU], Parbhani
1 PhD, Animal Nutrition Division, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly
With the growing human population, it is becoming more and more challenging to provide food at the same pace. It is expected that by 2050’s the population is going to be around 9.6 billion (UN, 2013). Currently animal husbandry and agriculture combined, provides employment to more than 1.3 billion humans and the demand for animal origin products, whether, meat, milk, eggs etc is going to be exponentially high by the mid to end of 21st century (Rojas-Downing et al., 2017). On one hand we need to increase the production on the other, this has to be achieved with the climate change and global warming conditions. Many government agencies have predicted a global rise in earth’s ambient temperature by the end of this century, with temperature increase between 0.5 to 4.5° C (IPCC, 2018).
Already, the economic losses associated with heat stress are huge all over the world and different mathematical models have predicted future decline in animal production with temperature increase and concomitant economic losses. The impact of heat stress is more evident on large ruminants as compared to smaller ones like goat and sheep. The association between humans and goats is some 11000 years old and it is one of the earliest reared ruminant species by man. Goats provide us with high quality meat, milk, hides, dung, hairs, fibre etc. Native breeds of Indian goats, especially from central and southern regions, show high degree of thermotolerance and are prolific producers and breeders.
https://www.pashudhanpraharee.com/national-action-plan-on-goat-for-aatm-nirbhar-bharat/
What makes the goats unique amongst other ruminants
- Smaller body size
- Ability to consume and digest fodder leftovers or crop residues, trees, leaves, shrubs
- Bipedal stance, which confers ability to reach shrubs and tree leaves
- Ability to convert low quality fodder into high quality meat, milk and hairs
- Good immunity against diseases and all parasitic infections
- Prolific breeding efficiency
- Year round supply of meat, milk and kids
- Less water requirement
- Non-specific housing needs
- Efficient thermoregulation
- Adaptability to draught prone geographical regions
The future of goat farming
With the advent of modernization, urbanization and expanding human population, there will be a greater need for quality food. These human needs can only be sufficed by maximizing animal production in future, with global warming. Already we have seen unbelievable growth in poultry sector in the last 3-4 decades. Unlike cattle or buffalo meat, goat meat or mutton has no religious taboos, anywhere in the world, especially in India.
Goat farming just need to be more sustainable and organized to be profitable and become a major agri-enterprise in India. Here the primary need is good management, quality fodder, disease and pest management (to a minor extent) and protection of animals from heat stress as Indian sub-continent is a tropical location and summer are characterised by high temperatures and humidity for more than 5-7 months. Another urgency is for establishment of specialized meat unions and trading markets Further, emphasis should be on export along with domestic utilization.
The world scenario
Presently, there are more than 11 hundred million goats in the world. Majority of the goat population is distributed in Asia (more than 60 %), followed by Africa, America, European Union (EU) and Oceania (Fig 1). Asia and Africa are still mostly developing nations, with booming populations as compared to America or EU. The animal husbandry sector and dependant trade is also not fully organized, yet. The scope for growth at local, regional and international level are tremendous. Both continents have tropical or subtropical climate, which means heat stress and associated losses are constant constraint. Optimum animal or shelter management and feeding regimes can ascertain the growth of goatery in coming times in India, Asia and Africa, respectively.
Figure 1. World goat population (Data sourced for FAOSTAT, 2021)
The Asian and Indian scenario
In Asia, India ranks first in goat population, followed by China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asiatic countries (Fig 2).
Figure 2. Goat population in Asia (Data sourced for FAOSTAT, 2021)
It means that Indian entrepreneurs have an open market not only in Asia but entire world. Here the scope for expanding internal and external trades is humongous. In the last two decades (1999-2019) the goat population in India has grown at an outstanding pace, almost doubling in this period (Fig 3). Also the export of live animals and revenue generated have grown considerably during the same period in India (Fig 4).
Figure 3. Goat population growth in India during the period, 1999-2019 (Data sourced for FAOSTAT, 2021)
Figure 4. Goat export and revenue generated during the period, 1999-2019 (Data sourced for FAOSTAT, 2021)
Summary
The future of world goatery look bright and there are promising opportunities for all. The developed western nations have already attained pinnacle of industrialization, urbanization and modernization, hence there is less or restricted scope for future growth to different agri-businesses. But the developing regions like Asia and Africa which already have the largest goat populations, have true opportunity to become world leaders in goatery. In future our energies should be channelized to achieve maximum production from our indigenous goats. This can be only achieved by implementation of traditional and scientific practices together, like shelter management and feeding etc. A scientific approach will be essential to change this small scale backdoor enterprise to fully commercial modern goat agri-enterprises, which in future will make goatery one of the most sustainable and profitable industry in India.
References
United Nations., 2013. World population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/un-report-world-population-projected-to-reach-9-6-billion-by-2050.html
Rojas-Downing, M., Melissa, A., Nejadhashemi, P., Harrigan, T. and Woznicki, S.A., 2017. Climate Change and Livestock: Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation. Climate Risk Management, 16,145-63 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2017.02.001.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2018., 2018- special report: global warming of 1.5oC and Climate change synthesis report.
