AREPORTONANIMALREARINGININDIA

ByAMARNATH

Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labour.Thelivestockalsoinclude poultry orfarmed fish. Livestock are generally raised for profit. Raising animals (animal husbandry) is a component of modern agriculture. It has been practiced in many cultures since the transition to farming from hunter-gather lifestyles. Animalrearing has its origins in the transition of cultures to settled farming communities rather than hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animalsaredomesticatedwhentheirbreedingandlivingconditions arecontrolledbyhumans.Overtime,thecollectivebehaviour, life cycle,and physiology oflivestock have changed radically. Many modern farm animals are unsuited to life in the wild. Dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago, Goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BCE in Asia. Swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BCE in the Middle East and China. Theearliestevidenceof horse domesticationdatestoaround4000BCE.

Theeconomicvalueoflivestockincludes:

Meat:theproductionofausefulformofdietaryproteinandenergy. Dairyproducts:Mammalianlivestockcanbeusedasasourceofmilk,whichcaninturn easilybeprocessedintootherdairyproducts,suchasyogurt,cheese,butter,ice cream,kefir,andkumis.Usinglivestockforthispurposecanoftenyieldseveraltimes thefoodenergyofslaughteringtheanimaloutright.

Fiber:Livestock produce a range of fiber/textiles. For example,sheepandgoatsproduce wool and mohaircows,deer, andsheepskins can be made into leather andbones,hoovesandhornsoflivestockcanbeused.

Fertilizer: Manurecan be spread on fields to increase crop yields. This is an important reason why historically,plantand animaldomesticationhave been intimately linked. Thebloodandboneofanimalsarealsousedasfertilizer.

Labour: Animals such ashorses,donkey, andyakscan be used for mechanical energy. Prior tosteam power, livestock were the only available source of nonhuman labor. They are still used for this purpose in many places of the world, includingploughingfields, transportinggoods,andmilitaryfunctions.

Land management: The grazing of livestock issometimesusedas awaytocontrolweeds andundergrowth.Forexample,inareaspronetowildfires,goatsandsheeparesettograze ondryscrubwhichremovescombustiblematerialandreducestheriskoffires.

ECONOMICSOFANIMALREARINGININDIA:
A large number offarmersinIndiadepend onanimal husbandryfor their livelihood. In addition to supplyingmilk,meat,eggs, wool andhides,animals, mainlybullocks,arethemajorsourceofpower forbothfarmersanddrayers.Animalhusbandryplaysanimportantroleintheruraleconomy. Indiaslivestocksectorisoneofthelargestintheworld.Ithas56.7%ofworldsbuffaloes,12.5% cattle,20.4%smallruminants,2.4%camel,1.4%equine,1.5%pigsand3.1%poultry.In201011, livestockgeneratedoutputsworthRs2075billion(at200405prices)whichcomprised4%ofthe GDPand26%oftheagriculturalGDP. ThepastandthepresenttrendofanimalhusbandryinIndia PastTrend(During1990s)

The gross valueofoutputfromthissectorwas 358billion(US$6.2billion) inFY1989,an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the total agricultural output of 1.4 trillion(US$24.1billion). In FY 1992, India had approximately 25 percent of the world'scattle, with a collectiveherdof 193 million head. India also had 110 milliongoats, 75 million waterbuffalo,44millionsheep,and10millionpigs. Milk production in FY 1990 was estimated to have reached 53.5 million tons, andegg productionhadreachedalevelof23.3billioneggs. Dairy farming provided supplementary employment and an additional source of income to manysmallandmarginalfarmers. TheNational Dairy Development Boardwas established in 1965 under the auspices of Operation Flood atAnand, in Gujarat, to promote, plan, and organize dairy development through cooperatives to provide consultations and to set up dairy plants, which werethen turned over to the cooperatives. There were more than 63,000 Anandstyle dairy cooperative societies with some 7.5 millionmembersintheearly1990s.Themilkproduced and sold by these farmers brought 320 million(US$5.5million) a day, or more than 10 trillion(US$172.0billion)ayear.

TheincreaseinmilkproductionpermittedIndiatoendimportsofpowderedmilkand milkrelatedproducts. In addition, 30,000 tonsofpowderedmilkwereexportedannuallytoneighboringcountries. Therewasabout50000cowsinIndia. Operation FloodinIndia,aprojectof theNationalDairyDevelopmentBoard(NDDB)was

the world'sbiggestdairydevelopmentprogramme whichmadeIndia,amilkdeficientnation, thelargestmilkproducerintheworld,surpassingtheUSAin1998.

PresentTrend: Today, India has the world's largest dairy herd (composed of cows and buffaloes),atover 304 million strong,and stands first in milk production, with 112.5 million tonnes of milk producedin20092010. India is also the third largest eggproducer in the world, at over 180 million eggs being produced every day or 65.7 billion eggs fortheyear201112,andtheworldssixthlargest producerofpoultrymeat. While the majority of Indias animal products are consumed domestically, exports are growing.Indiaisthetopglobalexporterofbuffalomeat. In addition, Indias leading poultry producers, including Suguna, Venkys, and the Amrit Group,areincreasingsalestocountriesinotherpartsofAsiaandtheMiddleEast.

Internationalinvestments In 2011, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India has announced 100% Foreign Direct Investment in Animal Husbandry includingbreedingofdogsundercontrolled conditions. Thecontrolledconditioninclude: Climatic system (providing proper ventilation, temperature/humidity management), healthcare and nutrition, herd registering/pedigree recording, use of machinery, waste managementsystem. Poultry breeding farms and hatcheries where microclimate is controlled through advanced technologieslikeincubators,ventilationsystemsetc.

The new policy demands compulsory divestment of 20% equity of the company in favour of an Indianpartner/Indianpublicwithinaperiodof5years. In 2008, U.S.based Tyson Foods acquired a 51 percent stake in Godrej,anIndianconglomerate

thatisamajorproducerofanimalfeedsandpoultry. TheInternationalFinanceCorporation(IFC)hasanequitystakeinSuguna.

IntotheFuture(Recommendationsof12thFiveYearplan)

For achieving targeted growth rate of 5 6 % in milkproduction,provisionshouldbemade for production of required good quality semen from high genetic sources. To achieve that, the existing semen stations should be strengthened and upgraded to category A, and /or new semen stationsestablished toensureavailabilityofminimum150milliondosesofquality sementocover40%breedablecowsandbuffaloes.

Profitabilityinsheepandgoatwouldlargelycomefromincreasedmeatandtosomeextent wool/hairproduction.Thefocusshouldbetoadoptsemiintensive/commercialproduction systems,applicationofassistedreproductivetechnologiesandprovisionofimprovedquality feedandfodderandhealthcare. AmissiononPigProductionshouldbeinitiatedinNortheasternregionandothereastern states.Strengthening/establishmentofpigbreedingunits,arrangingfeedinputs,qualitygerm plasm,vaccinesanddiagnostics,processingplantsanddevelopingmarketlinkagesshould beintegralpartoftheMission. Forincreasinggrowthratefrompresent2%to3%inruralpoultry,aruralpoultrymission projectwithfocusonprovidinglowinputbirdsshouldbeinitiated.ICARmayparticipate andmakeavailablethelowinputbirds. Dairyplantsshouldhaveinbuiltmechanismforanaerobicwastetreatmentanddairy byproductutilization.

Wellequippedlaboratoriesfortestingadulterants,antibioticsresidues,andfoodborne pathogensshouldbeestablishedtoenhancesafetyandqualityofanimalfeedsandfoods. Livestockeconomics,businessmanagementandmarketintelligenceshouldbestrengthened. TheearlierrecommendationofXIthPlanforestablishmentofInstituteforLivestock InformationandPolicyStudiesisreiterated. AbudgetaryoutlayofRs.31,560Croresisrecommendedforanimalhusbandryanddairy sectortoachievegrowthrateof6%.