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The economics of animal rearing plays a very vital role in the country. The agriculture sector in India is predominantly a mixed crop-livestock (animals, birds and fishes) farming system. Animal rearing has always remained an integral part of it. Animal rearing (which includes rearing of cows, camels, buffaloes, goats, pigs, ships, etc.), besides directly contributing to the national income and socio-economic development, plays the following vital functions in the country:
(i) Supplements family income and generates gainful employment in the rural sector;
(ii) Particularly helps the landless labourers, small and marginal farmers and women (economic empowerment of women);
(iii) Provides cheap nutrititional food;
(iv) Functions as the best insurance against drought, famine and other natural calamities;
(v) It is more inclusive in nature; and
(vi) Promotes the cause of sustainable agriculture.
The significance of this sector can be seen by the following facts:
(i) The livestock sector as a whole achieved an average growth rate of 4.8 per cent during the 11th Plan which is higher than the farm sector growth (3.5 per cent) and the foodgrains growth (around 1 per cent).
(ii) The livestock population of India is around 530 million. It accounts for about 26 per cent of the total agricultural, fishing and forestry sectors.
(iii) Meat production has a growth rate of 5.7 per cent with a total production of 4.8 million tonne (still this sector has huge demand-supply gap and there is enormous scope of expansion.
Dairy Sector: India ranks first in the world in milk production with a production of around 146.3 million tonne and the per capita availability (pca) of 322 grams (world pca is 294 grams) by the end of 2014–15.
Some of the important GoI programmes/schemes for meeting the growing demand of milk:
• Intensive Dairy Development Programme.
• Strengthening Infrastructure for Quality and Clean Milk Production, Assistance to Cooperatives.
• Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme.
• National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding.
A new scheme, the National Dairy Plan , Phase I, has been launched in March 2012 with the following objectives:
(i) Improving productivity of milch animals,
(ii) Strengthening and expanding village-level infrastructure for milk procurement, and
(iii) Providing producers greater access to the market in the dairy sector.
Pig Rearing Scheme: This scheme is aimed to assist farmers/landless labourers/co-operatives and the tribals particularly in the North-Eastern states
by raering pigs under stall fed condition for quality pork production and organised pork marketing in rural areas and semi-urban areas. The main objectives of the shceme are:
(i) Encourage commercial rearing by adopting scientific methods and infrastructure creation;
(ii) Production and supply of improved germ plasm;
(iii) Organise stakeholders to popularise scientific practices;
(iv) Create supply chain for the meat industry;
(v) Encourage value addition for better income.
Adequate availability of feed and fodder for livestock is vital for increasing milk production and sustaining the ongoing genetic improvement programme. Green fodder shortage in the country is estimated at about 34 per cent. The central government has put in place a modified Centrally Sponsored Fodder and Feed Development Scheme since 2010 to supplement the efforts of the states to improve fodder production. Besides, the Accelerated Fodder Development Programme was launched as a component of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in 2011–12 to promote production of fodder.
Animal Health: With the improvement in the quality of livestock through launching of extensive cross-breeding programmes, the susceptibility to various diseases, including exotic diseases has increased. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality, efforts are being made by the state/UT governments to provide better health care through polyclinics/veterinary hospitals/dispensaries/ first-aid centres including mobile veterinary dispensaries. For the prevention of various diseases, 27 veterinary vaccine production units are working with dominance of the public sector (20 are in the public sector and rest in the private sector). The ‘Livestock Health & Disease Control’ is being run as a centrally sponsored scheme to assist the attempts of the states and UTs in the area.
Suggestions for further development of the sector.
(i) Developing progeny tested semen for artificial insemination.
(ii) Expansion of fodder availability through innovative means.
(iii) Facilities of animal health centres need to be upgraded and the disease
control systems made more effective on the veterinary side.
(iv) In the drylands and mountain ecosystems, livestock contribute anywhere between 50 to 75 per cent of the total household income of the rural population. Support to these massive and highly diverse livestock populations in these regions is lacking.
(v) Raising the capability of the rural poor to conserve and manage their livestock resources, and enables them to derive sustainable incomes from these resources.
(vi) Decentralisation and convergence of policy support for these options is crucial for diversification of livelihoods in small-holder farming.