LIVESTOCK  DEVELOPMENT  OPPORTUNITIES

FOR  IMPROVING  LIVELIHOOD IN  RAINFED  AREAS

 Ajit Soni

Livestock in India

Animal Husbandry is making a significant contribution to the national economy and socio-economic development in the country.  In rural India where over 15-20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood.  In the absence of fertile lands and assured irrigation which are controlled by a small population of rich farmers and lack of employment in the industrial and service sectors, most of the rural families belonging to socio-economically weaker sections of the society maintain different species of livestock to supplement their income.  While the land owners prefer cattle and buffaloes, the landless prefer to own sheep, goat and poultry. Among various species of livestock, cattle and buffaloes are the major contributors from this sector to the National GDP.

In spite of the importance of livestock in rural economy, most of the livestock owners are unable to tap the potential of this industry, due to lack of technical support services and inefficient backward and forward integration.  India ranks first in cattle and buffalo population, second in goat, third in sheep and seventh in Poultry (Table 1).  Although the population of livestock during the last 10 years has been stable, around 485 million, the buffalo population has increased by 8.91%, while the cattle population has reduced by 6.89%.  There has been a significant increase in the population of goats during the last five decades, which is attributed to the decrease in the size of land holdings and persistent drought caused by erratic monsoon, forcing many small farmers to shift from large animals to small ruminants. 

The present breedable bovine population under an organised breeding programme is 113.61 million, which includes 12.62 million crossbred, 51.13 million indigenous cattle and 50.28 million buffaloes.  India also tops in milk production, with 100 million tons/year.  The value of output contributed by livestock in 2003-04 was Rs.164,509 crores, of which Rs.110,085 crores (66.92%) was from milk and the rest from meat.  Livestock also provides gainful employment all-round the year to over 16 million people, of which 70% are women.  Milk production accounts for 5.86% of the GDP while the total contribution from Animal Husbandry is 9.33%. 

Table 1:  Livestock Population in India

Sr.No.	Species	Livestock Census		Growth Rate (%)
		1997	2003	2003 over 1997
1.	Cattle	198.9	185.2	-6.89
2.	Buffalo	89.9	97.9	8.91
3.	Sheep	57.5	61.5	6.96
4.	Goat	122.7	124.4	1.38
5.	Other Animals	16.34	16.05	-1.77
	Total Livestock	485.4	485.0	-0.08

Source: Livestock Census, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture

Table 1:  Livestock Population in India

Sr.No.	Species	Livestock Census		Growth Rate (%)
		1997	2003	2003 over 1997
1.	Cattle	198.9	185.2	-6.89
2.	Buffalo	89.9	97.9	8.91
3.	Sheep	57.5	61.5	6.96
4.	Goat	122.7	124.4	1.38
5.	Other Animals	16.34	16.05	-1.77
	Total Livestock	485.4	485.0	-0.08

Source: Livestock Census, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture

Table 3:  Expected Growth of Livestock Population and Milk Yield 

Year   à	2006-07			2021-22
Type of Animals	Population (mill.)	Production (mill. tons)	Wet Average (kg/day)	Population (mill.)	Production (mill. tons)	Wet Average (kg/day)
Indigenous	28.158	20.263	1.98	31.264	26.248	2.28
Crossbred	2.580	18.682	6.75	12.347	44.703	7.98
Buffalo	32.864	53.986	4.50	40.061	97.789	5.94
Goat	--	4.073	--	--	6.512	--

Vanishing Indian Breeds

Among 30 major Indian breeds of cattle, there are only four milch breeds, namely Sahiwal, Gir, Rathi and Sindhi which are maintained for milk production.  Among them, the population of Sindhi and Sahiwal has reduced significantly and the other two breeds are also under severe neglect.  There are a few dual-purpose breeds like Deoni, Haryana, Kankrej and Tharparkar while the rest are draft breeds, maintained for producing bullocks.  With the modernisation of agriculture and sub-division of land holdings, bullock power in Indian agriculture is losing its importance.  A good pair of bullocks of any good draft breed will require at least Rs.50,000-60,000 for rearing, till they are ready for field operations.  This being unaffordable for a majority of the small farmers, these bullocks are often sold in distress by the owners.  With less than 1.0 ha land holdings, small farmers cannot make optimum use of bullocks and hence prefer to hire tractor services whenever necessary.  Thus, with the diminishing demand for bullock power, the farmers are not adequately motivated to conserve these draft breeds.  Thus, many of the draft breeds are under severe neglect. In the absence of a clear cut policy and programme for conservation, these breeds are subject to heavy genetic erosion.

As cattle have sentimental value, farmers hesitate to dispose off their uneconomical animals. This has resulted in increasing population, without proportionate contribution to the production.  Even where the farmers are keen to get rid of their unproductive and diseased animals, there are no easy outlets to accept them.  With the imposition of ban on cow slaughter, there has been a gradual shift in the ownership of larger animals resulting in marginal reduction of cattle population and increase in buffalo population during the last one decade. 

Realising the severe genetic erosion of Indian milch cattle breeds, the Government of India had promoted the Intensive Cattle Development Programme way back in 60’s to upgrade nondescript cattle population through cross breeding with exotic milch breeds like Jersey or Holstein Friesian.  While a well planned cross breeding programme, along with upgrading of buffaloes could significantly enhance the milk production in the country, dairy farmers are encountered with several new challenges to sustain the growth and profitability.  This calls for a review of the existing livestock breeding policy and infrastructure needed to optimise their productivity.   

 

Availability of Feed and Fodder

Availability of feed and fodder is a major constraint in promotion of dairy husbandry in the country.  It has been estimated that only 880 million tons of dry fodder was available including greens, which can meet only 35-40% of the demand.  This clearly indicates that most of the livestock being underfed, are unable to perform optimally.  Out of the available dry matter, over 55% fodder is available in the form of agricultural by-products and about 15 to 20% dry matter is collected in the form of dried grass from community wastelands and forests which are of inferior quality.  Similarly, the concentrates required for feeding the livestock are also in acute shortage.  As a result, even the high yielding animals, which are presumably well-fed, are suffering from nutritional imbalance. 

Presently hardly 3-4% of the area is under cultivation of forage crops, in selected pockets where dairy husbandry is prospering as an important source of income.  Further expansion of the area is possible only when the quality of livestock owned by farmers is improved significantly. 

 

Scope for Development of Livestock Husbandry

Fortunately, Animal Husbandry sector provides a unique opportunity for small farmers, particularly in the arid regions and non-irrigated areas for earning sustainable livelihood because of following reasons:

·                     Most of the small holders are already owning livestock to generate supplementary income;

·                     Present level production of livestock in these regions are generally low with good potential for improvement;

·                     Inspite of frequent crop failures, fodder supply for livestock is well assured;

·                     Livestock husbandry which ensures steady supply of organic nutrients can boost agricultural production, particularly of rainfed crops, where higher doses of chemical fertilisers are not used;

·                     With year round gainful self-employment, livestock husbandry reduces seasonal migration of small holders;

·                     With the estimated demand for milk increasing from the present volume of 100 million tons to 175 million tons by 2022, dairy farmers are assured of remunerative price for their produce.

Milk being an important source of protein in India, particularly in rural areas, the demand for milk is likely to increase with the increase in rural prosperity.  The demand for meat is also likely to increase by four folds because of increase in local consumption and severe shortage of meat in the Far East and South East Asian countries, opening an excellent opportunity for export. 

With the growing demand for various products, Animal Husbandry can provide good opportunity, particularly for the small and marginal farmers and the landless to improve their economy.  Livestock development is a labour intensive activity which demands very close attention throughout the year. This will be a boon for the small farmers and landless who are mostly unemployed or under-employed.  Thus, animal husbandry can be promoted as a major economic activity in non-irrigated regions in the country. 

To transform the current status from negative contribution to profitability, particularly to benefit the weaker sections of the society, there is a need for a drastic change in the livestock husbandry policy and greater involvement of the private sector and local communities.  The Animal Husbandry sector should be treated at par with the industry for availing finance and tax benefits and the Government should encourage Public-Private Partnership to attract larger investments, modern technologies and effective networking for forward and backward integration. 

Present Status of Animal Husbandry Services

Delivery of animal husbandry and veterinary services for farmers were accepted as the responsibility of the State Governments, which were delivered free of cost since independence.  The services provided by the Animal Husbandry Department to the farmers are breeding cattle and buffaloes through AI, preventive vaccination, treatment of sick animals and extension services to promote new schemes and technologies.  However, in the absence of greater mobility in interior rural areas, most of the services were confined to the periphery of the veterinary clinics established at the block or tehsil level. With the shortage of qualified veterinary graduates, most of these technical services were gradually assigned to semi-skilled livestock supervisors.  In the absence of efficient services, farmers in interior areas could not take advantage of the programmes, which were intended to improve the productivity of livestock.  Infrastructure for marketing of milk has been very weak, due to poor performance of the cooperatives.  Thus, the progress of livestock development, particularly the dairy husbandry could benefit a small population in selected pockets, where milk cooperatives were efficient, while a large section of small farmers could not take advantage. 

Forward and backward linkages are influencing the growth and profitability of this sector even today.  In case of dairy husbandry, linkage of the dairy farmers with the processing unit is very critical.  In regions where the dairy plants are operating successfully, good quality milch animals can be seen in plenty.  In the absence of an efficient milk collection network, farmers start selling their animals.  There are many locations in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where BAIF has been operating the livestock development programme successfully but the milk collection and marketing mechanisms have not been very efficient.  In such areas, the farmers preferred to sell heifers or cows in the first lactation at remunerative prices, although maintaining them for milk production could have given sustainable income.

Availability of fodder and feed can play a very important role as about 70% of the cost of dairy husbandry is on feeding.  There are several hurdles for the small farmers to procure good quality feed at the right price.  While there is a severe shortage of animal feeds, farmers in fodder surplus areas are even burning crop residues or selling for alternate uses at substantially lower price.  In the absence of organised supply, the local traders take undue advantage by supplying inferior quality feed at high cost.  In such a situation, dairy farming can be uneconomical in spite of superior technical inputs from Animal Scientists.

The time is ripe for the country to take advantage of the global opportunities to meet the growing demand for milk and meat through reorganisation of the services and business approaches.  There is also an opportunity to effectively involve the weaker sections of the society - the landless, women, and the small and marginal farmers to take maximum advantage of these opportunities as they do not have many other options to earn their livelihood. 

Current Priorities of Government of India 

The Government of India had given major thrust on the following activities under the Tenth Five Year Plan. 

·         Genetic upgradation of cattle and buffaloes and improvement in delivery mechanism of breeding inputs and services to farmers including promotion of clean milk production;

·         Extension of dairy development activities in non-operational flood, hilly and backward areas;

·         Provision of nutritious feed and fodder through promotion of fodder crops and fodder trees;

·         Provision of adequate animal health cover services including creation of disease free zones and control of foot and mouth disease;

·         Improvement of small ruminants;

·         Provision of credit facilities to farmers.

To achieve the above goal, the Government adopted the following strategy. 

·         Expand and strengthen infrastructure for artificial insemination, improve efficiency and effectiveness by using frozen semen technology for cross breeding;

·         Create a germplasm bank of superior bulls and bull mothers to serve as a nucleus germplasm pool;

·         Facilitate genetic improvement of important native breeds through selective breeding and crossbreeding of low productive non-descript stock for both milk and drought purposes;

·         Improve productivity of pasture lands, through introduction of improved fodder varieties and development of wastelands for forage production;

 

·         Provide animal health services with special emphasis on control of foot and mouth disease;

·         Promote technological inventions for adding value to livestock products;

·         Improve the database of livestock performance and products.

Schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture, AHD

The following schemes were launched by the Government of India through the 10^th Five Year Plan to achieve the above goals.

1. Central Cattle Breeding Farms:  Support to farmers engaged in production of indigenous and exotic bull calves of Tharparkar, Red Sindhi, Jersey, Holstein Friesian and crossbred cattle and Surti and Murrah buffaloes. However, these farms together produced only about 350 bull calves in 2004-05.

2. Central Frozen Semen Production Laboratory in Bangalore produced 12 lakh doses of semen in 2004-05.

3. Central Herd Registration Scheme (CHRS): It was launched to register elite cows and buffaloes of important native breeds and to provide incentive for calf rearing.  Four units established at Rohtak, Ahmedabad, Ajmer and Ongole are engaged in laying down selection standards and identification of superior germplasm of Gir, Kankrej, Haryana and Ongole breeds of cattle and Murrah, Jaffrabadi, Surti and Mehsana breeds of buffalo.  About 11,000 elite cows and buffaloes have been registered during 2004-05. 

4. National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB) initiated in 2000 aims at genetic upgradation and conservation of important indigenous breeds.  The important components of the programme were:

a.   Introduction of superior bulls for breeding;

b.  Quality control of semen banks;

c.   Promotion of private mobile AI service at the doorsteps of farmers

d.   Streamlining the distribution of liquid nitrogen

e.   Restructuring of the institutional infrastructure

5. Feed and Fodder Development: Assistance is being provided to States for enhancing feed and fodder production.  Seven Regional Stations and a Central Station have been established for production of fodder seeds and to set up field demonstrations.  Establishment of fodder banks, enrichment of agricultural by-products and supply of fodder mini kit are the major initiatives to enhance the feed supply. 

6. Livestock Health: Apart from supporting biological products units, disease diagnostic laboratories and livestock disease control programme, special programmes have been launched to control Rinderpest and Foot and Mouth diseases. 

     7.  Dairy Development: Major schemes launched to tap the potentials of dairy husbandry were:

a.       Dairy venture capital fund;

b.      Integrated dairy development in non-operational flood, hilly and backward areas;

c.       Assistance to dairy cooperatives;

d.      Promotion of private dairy processors;

e.       Strengthening infrastructure for clean milk production.

    8.   The programmes of NDDB: The Perspective Plan 2010 covers strengthening of cooperative business, enhancing productivity, managing quality and building a national information network in the operational flood areas.

 

Programmes of the State Governments

Based on the priorities set by the Government of India, most of the State Governments had launched the following schemes. 

·         Treatment of sick animals and preventive vaccination;

·         Breeding services;

·         Management of cattle farms, calf rearing, fodder demonstration farms, fodder banks, veterinary clinics;

·         Support to Goshalas for breed conservation and production of elite animals. 

Lack of funds to procure vaccines and delay in supply from the state owned Production Units are often rendering the programme ineffective. Moreover, these programmes could not reach the small farmers in remote areas.

Impact of NPCBB

Among various schemes implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, NPCBB seems to be the most focused programme to address various problems and to contribute to the economy through participation of weaker sections of the society.  This programme which was launched in the year 2000 initially in five states, has been extended to 26 states.  The impact of this programme are:

·         Support to 51 semen stations to improve the quality. 

·         21,605 AI centres were strengthened to convert from stationary centres to mobile

         centres to provide services at doorsteps. 

·         Number of AIs has increased from 20 million (1999-2000) to 34 million (2004-

         05).

 

·         Coverage of bovine population under AI has increased from 16% to 31%.

·         Improvement in conception rate from 19.91% to 35.34%. 

 

·         Expected to increase the coverage of 113.61 million breedable bovine population

         to 70% at the end of Phase I to produce 10 million improved females. Phase II of   

         the NPCBB project aims to support over 70 million rural households who own

         livestock. 

Constraints of Livestock Development

In spite of the ambitious programmes launched by the Government of India and State Governments, they were not able to deliver the expected results.  There was no significant breakthrough in improving the productivity both in the milch and meat sectors and in reaching the poor for their livelihood.  

The reasons for the slow progress were:

1.      Non-availability of superior quality breeding bulls;

2.      Poor quality of semen produced by many of the laboratories;

3.      Inadequate skills of paravets resulting in poor conception and infertility;

4.      Inadequate support for paravets for supply of liquid nitrogen, frozen semen, health care and technical guidance;

5.      Shortage of fodder resources;

6.      Absence of field oriented conservation strategy for indigenous breeds;

7.      Lack of coordination among various agencies engaged in livestock husbandry;

  8.  Poor extension services to motivate small farmers to adopt dairy husbandry for income generation.    

Problems of the Poor

 

If the programme has to reach the poor and make a positive impact for its success, it is necessary to sort out the problems of the poor. The major problems of the rural families living below the poverty line (BPL) in taking advantage of the opportunities in livestock development are presented below:

• Poor quality animals needing genetic upgradation and severe culling;

• Poor breeding services at their doorsteps, both with respect to superiority of the germplasm and timely and efficient delivery resulting in poor conception and production of inferior quality offspring;

• Nutritional deficiency, shortage of feed and fodder;

• Poor health conditions due to lack of preventive vaccinations and timely diagnosis of health problems;

• Lack of coordinated efforts to eradicate common diseases;

• High cost of veterinary services leading to neglect of sick animals;

• Spreading of communicable diseases such as Brucellosis, TB, etc. to other animals as well as human beings in the absence of separation facilities;

• Lack of technical guidance to farmers to improve their animal husbandry practices;

• Poor control on technicians engaged in providing various services to farmers resulting in exploitation and lack of treatment for infertile animals;

• Saturation of market in local milk sheds, resulting in lower price realisation and exploitation by the middlemen and private dairies;

• Poor linkage between research institutions and farmers resulting in use of  outdated technologies;

• Absence of suitable policies to involve small farmers. 

Need for suitable National Livestock Policy

To achieve the revised goal, the first step should be to formulate a national policy.  The Indian Livestock Policy therefore will have to take a holistic view and find ways of making best use of the opportunities at the national and international levels.  With this background, the National Livestock Development Policy should pursue the following goals (Anon.1996):

·         All-round improvement in quality and efficiency to compete in the global market;

·         Enable resource-poor households and women to take active part in livestock development for sustainable livelihood;

·         Ensure ecological sustainability through conservation of native breeds and     control of unplanned population growth to match with available feed and fodder resources.

Strategy for Livestock Development for Benefiting Small Farmers

Keeping in view the performance of various schemes, the following recommendations can be made to boost livestock husbandry, which can boost the production, compete in the global market and attract the landless and small farmers to take advantage of this sector for sustaining their livelihood.

1.  Genetic Improvement

     1.1. Production of Superior Quality Bulls 

    

·         The primary focus of all the State owned and supported farms should be on breed conservation and production of elite bull mothers and bull calves. 

·         Farmers maintaining elite herds of cattle and buffalo can also be involved in bull calf production through planned breeding and buy-back guarantee. 

·         Application of MOET (Super ovulation and embryo transfer technology) for production of bull mothers and bull calves should be promoted.

·         Progeny testing of sires should be strengthened to aim for the use of proven sire semen on a large scale.  A target may be set to cover at least 15-20% of the breeding services by using semen of proven sires, by 2020. 

      1.2. Production of Superior Quality Semen 

·         All the semen freezing laboratories should be registered with the Ministry of Agriculture in different regions for periodic evaluation of the quality. 

·         The bulls to be brought under semen freezing should have certification for their pedigree, performance and disease free status.

·         There are many semen freezing laboratories, which have been recommended by the Government of India for closure as they were unable to maintain minimum expected quality. The concerned State Governments may invite interested agencies to operate such laboratories on a benefit-sharing basis.

 

     1.3. Conservation of Genetic Resources

The following activities are proposed for conservation of important native breeds of cattle and buffaloes.

·         Study the economics and utility of different breeds;

·         Incentive for maintaining the native breeds by compensating the costs and assurance for procurement of elite animals at a premium;

·         Procurement of elite females from farmers for bull mother farms managed by research institutions for super ovulation;  

·         Use of sexed embryos for multiplication of elite progeny;

2.  Breeding Services and Management

     2.1. Training and Regulation of AI Technicians:

·          To avoid inefficient breeding services, skill oriented training should be organised for paravets.  The nodal agency can conduct a test for trained paravets to operate breeding services privately. 

·          To check the quality of the services and to avoid exploitation of the farmers, privately operating paravets can be brought under the supervision of the local Dairy Federation. 

·          The State Animal Husbandry Department can monitor the work and arrange advanced training periodically.  It is necessary to restrict the movement of paravets to their assigned villages to ensure accountability of their services and to prevent unfair competition. 

 

      2.2 Support Services

·         Timely supply of various inputs such as liquid nitrogen, frozen semen, vaccines, first aid kit, vitamins, concentrates, mineral mixture and forage seeds is essential for the success of the paravets.  This can be entrusted to the local Dairy Federation or NGO engaged in livestock husbandry.

·         Special programmes should be developed to promote economic management of small ruminants by providing critical inputs and services through their Self Help Groups and assisting in forward and backward linkages.

      2.3. Health Care

·         There is good scope to privatise health care services, particularly in well-established milk sheds.  Thus, the Federations and private entrepreneurs can be encouraged to take up the responsibility of providing effective health care.

·         Private veterinarians should be encouraged to practice in close association with paravets engaged in providing breeding services.  This can also enable paravets to take up minor treatments and refer major cases to the veterinary doctor.

·         The State Animal Husbandry Department can convert selected veterinary hospitals into specialised units for handling complicated cases referred by the practising veterinarians.

·         Establishment of Disease Investigation laboratories by the local Dairy Federation or private agencies can be encouraged to analyse the samples collected by paravets.  This will help in providing timely and effective services. 

·         Research and Development facilities should be strengthened for application of biotechnology for disease diagnosis of production of cost effective vaccines and control of critical diseases. 

AHDs may redefine their role with priority for disease surveillance, establishing disease free zones and eradication of important diseases, 

·         forecasting of disease outbreaks and awareness on preventive and curative measures for control, sanitation and clean milk production.  

      2.4. Strategy for Feed Management

       

Efficient Management of Crop Residues:  Recent studies have confirmed that it is possible to breed varieties of food crops having higher yield and quality of crop residues, without decreasing the grain yields.  Plant breeders and agronomists should be sensitized to breed and promote such varieties with high stover yield. 

Improvement of Nutritional Values:  Presently, the major quantity of dry matter is contributed from paddy straws, wheat bhusa, maize stalk, sugarcane bagasse and trash, which are of poor nutritional value and with high fibre 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.

Increase in Forage Yields:  Presently, no improved practices are followed for cultivating forage crops.  Thus, efforts are needed to breed superior fodder varieties, produce and supply good quality seeds, promote use of soil amendments, biofertilisers and forage harvesting equipment.

Complete Feed Rations:  To overcome nutritional imbalance in the field and to facilitate small farmers and landless to maintain their livestock under balanced feeding, decentralised complete feed production units can be established. 

Fodder Banks: Establishment of fodder banks in fodder scarcity regions through Dairy Federations and People’s Organisations can help small farmers to feed their livestock during scarcity.  In paddy and wheat growing areas where the straw is wasted, facilities for compacting straw should be installed and arrangement should be made to collect and pack them.  Fodder banks can play a critical role in timely supply of feed to livestock owners during the drought years.  However in the absence of any buyers in good seasons, the stock remains unsold, causing heavy burden for the establishment.  Hence, the experiences in the past have not been very encouraging. Therefore, linking of complete feed production unit with fodder bank can be explored on a pilot scale. 

Introduction of by-pass protein feed:  Techniques have been developed to avoid wastage of nutrients by feeding by-pass protein.  Support should be provided to establish by-pass protein production units particularly in milk sheds where high quality milch animals are maintained. 

Reduction of Herd Size:  It is also necessary to create awareness among farmers to reduce their herd size and ensure optimum feeding instead of keeping a large number of underfed animals. 

 

Support for Small Farmers:  For calf rearing, feed subsidy, insurance coverage, venture capital, etc. may be given to ensure their active role in dairy development and rearing of small ruminants. 

      2.5. Nodal Agencies for Backward and Forward linkages

·         The responsibility of providing back-up services to paravets and veterinarians can be assigned to milk processing units, dairy federations, voluntary organisations or private entrepreneurs in the region. 

·         These nodal agencies can also take up the production of critical inputs such as frozen semen, cattle feed, forage seeds, etc. required by the farmers.

      2.6. Management of Culled Animals

·         Presently, small farmers are not able to get rid of unproductive or sick animals suffering from contagious diseases.  Such unwanted animals not only put pressure on feed resources, but also spread diseases.  Therefore, suitable arrangements should be made for disposal of the culled animals by way of establishing panjarpoles through voluntary organisations or any other means. 

·         Export of animals to neighbouring countries desiring to procure, can be permitted and coordinated through the nodal agency / AHD. 

3. Processing and Marketing of Produce

·         Mini dairies should be established in small towns where large dairies are not viable.  This will ensure transparency and efficiency.

·         Milk processing units should assume a prominent role in promoting breeding services, input supply and health care provision, apart from collection of milk.  The farmers should be trained in clean milk production

·         Marketing of small animals is equally difficult and grossly neglected. In the absence of an organised market for sheep and goats, the farmers are cheated by the traders and middlemen.  The market for meat, wool and skin is highly scattered.  Hence, direct linkage with processors and consumers should be established. 

A Call for Immediate Action

Revisit the Policy: There is a need to revisit the present livestock development policy and reset achievable goals, which are realistic and benefit weaker sections of the society. 

Many of the programmes are based on certain baseless assumptions, without adequate field data. These include the performance of native breeds, comparative 

economics of crossbreds vs. native cattle and buffaloes, impact of small ruminants on environment and biodiversity, impact of the breeding and veterinary services provided by the State Animal Husbandry Department.  Such studies can help in revising the old schemes to serve the target group better.

Learn from the Past: There are many success stories experienced in the field by farmers and many development agencies in providing efficient breeding services, organizing health care, organizing milk collection and processing, reaching with efficient services in remote areas, organising livestock owners in small groups for self help to rear dairy cattle, small ruminants, poultry and developing community pasture lands, which can be easily replicated by incorporating in various government schemes and by farmers organisations.  Such projects should be studied and documented for wider replication. 

Focus on Critical Areas:  Some of the critical issues hampering the growth of the livestock sector are poor reach to weaker sections of the society particularly in remote and backward areas, non-availability of breeding, feed and fodder, healthcare and market outlets, timely technical guidance and information on disease outbreaks, price and supply of inputs and outputs and finance for investment and working capital.

These problems can be solved through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).  Hence the Government should facilitate such schemes immediately.  Voluntary agencies can play a significant role in the success of PPP, as they can motivate the farmers to take active part and control the vested interests of the private agencies and interact with the Government agencies.

References

1.  Anon.  1996.  National Livestock Policy Perspectives:  Report of Steering Group.     Planning Commission, Government of India. 

2.      Anon.  2005.  Annual Report 2004-2005.  Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.  New Delhi.