Answer:

India’s livestock sector is one of the largest in the world. In 2010-11 livestock generated outputs worth Rs 2075 billion (at 2004-05 prices) which comprised 4% of the GDP and 26% of the agricultural GDP. The total output worth was higher than the value of food grains.

Animal husbandry is an integral component of Indian agriculture supporting livelihood of more than two-thirds of the rural population. Animals provide nutrient-rich food products, draught power, dung as organic manure and domestic fuel, hides & skin, and are a regular source of cash income for rural households. They are a natural capital, which can be easily reproduced to act as a living bank with offspring as interest, and an insurance against income shocks of crop failure and natural calamities. However, driven by the structural changes in agriculture and food consumption patterns, the utility of livestock has been undergoing a steady transformation.

In India distribution of livestock is more equitable than that of land. It is evident from the data that in 2003 marginal farm households (≤1.0h hectare of land) who comprised 48% of the rural house- holds controlled more than half of country’s cattle and buffalo and two-thirds of small animals and poultry as against 24% of land. Livestock has been an important source of livelihood for small farmers. They contributed about 16% to their income.

Similarly, animal husbandry promotes gender equity as more than 3/4th of the labour demand in livestock production is met by women across the India. The share of women employment in livestock sector is around 90% in Punjab and Haryana as well as other states where dairying is a prominent activity and animals are stall-fed.

Thus, the distribution patterns of income and employment show that small farm households hold more opportunities in livestock production. The growth in livestock sector is demand-driven, inclusive, pro-poor and pro -women empowerment. Incidence of rural poverty is less in states like Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasthan where livestock accounts for a sizeable share of agricultural income as well as employment. Therefore, empirical evidence from India as well as from many other developing countries suggests that livestock development has been an important route for the poor households to escape poverty and to enhance gender equity in labour force participation in livestock production.