Livestock and Fisheries

Economics of Animal Rearing

Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy. About 25-30 million
depend upon livestock for their livelihood. The sector provides employment to
about 9% of the population (employment to 65% of rural population) in India
and contributes 4% to India’s GDP. It contributes 15% in the income of small
farm households as against an average of 12% for all rural households.
India ranks first in exports of buffalo trade, second in cattle wealth in the world,
third in global population of sheep and fifth highest population of ducks and
chicken.

Importance of Livestock sector in the Indian Economy

1. Ensures food and nutritional security
2. Cattle wealth especially bullocks are still backbone of Indian agriculture
3. Dung and other animal wastes serve as very good organic manure
4. Contributes in the production of bio gas and bio diesel
5. Livestock provide cushion to farmers at time of droughts
6. Essential source of farmers’ non-farm income
7. Contributes in the production of fibres and hide skins like wool, hair, hides
etc.

Importance of Livestock sector in achieving Inclusive Growth in India

• Distribution of livestock is more equitable than that of land -

In 2003 marginal farm households (≤1.0h hectare of land) who comprised
48% of the rural households controlled more than half of country’s cattle
and buffalo and two-thirds of small animals and poultry as against 24%
of land. Between 1991-92 and 2002-03 their share in land area increased
by 9 percentage points and in different livestock species by 10-25
percentage points.
• Livestock has been an important source of livelihood for small
farmers.
They contributed about 16% to their income, more so in states like
Gujarat (24.4%), Haryana (24.2%), Punjab (20.2%) and Bihar (18.7%).
• Promotes gender equity
The agricultural sector engages about 57% of the total working
population and about 73% of the rural labour force. Animal husbandry
promotes gender equity. More than three-fourth of the labour demand in
livestock production is met by women. The share of women employment in
livestock sector is around 90% in Punjab and Haryana where dairying is
a prominent activity.
• Beneficial for small farm households
The distribution patterns of income and employment show that small
farm households hold more opportunities in livestock production.
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.

Challenges faced by Livestock sector in India

• Improving productivity of farm animals is one of the major challenges.

The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only
about 50% of the global average.
• The Frequent outbreaks of diseases like Food and Mouth Diseases,
Black Quarter infection, Influenza etc. continue to affect Livestock health
and lowers the productivity.
• India’s huge population of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gases
emission adding to global warming. Reducing greenhouse gases through
mitigation and adaptation strategies will be a major challenge.
• Cross breeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to enhance
genetic potential of different species has been successful only to a
limited extent.
• Limited Artificial Insemination services owing to a deficiency in quality
germplasm, infrastructure and technical manpower coupled with poor
conception rate following artificial insemination have been the major
impediments. After more than three decades of crossbreeding, the
crossbred population is only 16.6% in cattle, 21.5% in pigs and 5.2% in
sheep.
• The sector will also come under significant adjustment pressure to the
emerging market forces. Though globalization will create avenues for
increased participation in international trade, stringent food safety and
quality norms would be required.
• Livestock sector did not receive the policy and financial attention it
deserved. The sector received only about 12% of the total public
expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors, which is disproportionately
lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP.
• The sector has been neglected by the financial institutions. The share
of livestock in the total agricultural credit has hardly ever exceeded 4% in
the total (short-term, medium-term and long-term). The institutional
mechanisms to protect animals against risk are not strong enough.
• Currently, only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided
insurance cover. Livestock extension has remained grossly neglected in
the past. Only about 5% of the farm households in India access
information on livestock technology. These indicate an apathetic outreach
of the financial and information delivery systems.
• Livestock derives a major part of their energy requirement from
agricultural by products and residues. Hardly 5% of the cropped area is
utilized to grow fodder. India is deficit in dry fodder by 11%, green fodder
by 35% and concentrates feed by 28%. The common grazing lands too
have been deteriorating quantitatively and qualitatively.
• Access to markets is critical to speed up commercialization of livestock
production. Lack of access to markets may act as a disincentive to
farmers to adopt improved technologies and quality inputs. Except for
poultry products and to some extent for milk, markets for livestock and
 livestock products are underdeveloped, irregular, uncertain and lack
transparency. Further, these are often dominated by informal market
intermediaries who exploit the producers.
• Likewise, slaughtering facilities are too inadequate. About half of the
total meat production comes from un-registered, make-shift
slaughterhouses. Marketing and transaction costs of livestock products
are high taking 15-20% of the sale price.
• Deficiency of vaccines and vaccination set-up.

Schemes/Policies Launched for Livestock Sector by the Government

1. National Livestock Mission

The National Livestock Mission (NLM) is designed to cover all the activities
required to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock
production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders. The Mission will
cover everything germane to improvement of livestock productivity. This Mission
is formulated with the objective of sustainable development of livestock sector,
focusing on improving availability of quality feed and fodder.

2. Rashtriya Gokul Mission

The Mission aims to conserve and develop indigenous breeds of cow in a
focused and scientific manner and for that breeding facilities will be set up for
varieties with high-genetic pedigree.
The aim of the mission is to protect Indigenous cow from being cross-bred into
different varieties.
Focus will be largely to give a push to local breeding programme on the line of
elite local breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi to enhance milk production.
The local cow breed will be protected through traditional-style “gaushalas” or
cattle-care centres.

Objectives of the mission:

• Development and conservation of indigenous breeds
• Undertake breed improvement programmes for indigenous cattle/breeds
to improve the genetic makeup and improve the stock
• Increase the milk production and productivity
• Distribute disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service

The idea is to increase milk production which is dismal in comparison to US,

UK, and Israel. India has attained the number one position in milk production
but that is only because the country is home of world’s largest livestock
population.
Through the programme, the aim is to increase high yield per cow which is
very low in comparison to the European countries and US. The average daily
milk yield for crossbred cattle in India is at 7.1 kg per day while it is at 25.6 in
UK, US (32.8) and Israel (38.6).
The reason behind the low yield in India is because of intrinsic and extrinsic
factors both.
• The intrinsic factor is low genetic potential
• Extrinsic is related with number of reasons like poor nutrition and feed
management, inferior farm management practices and inefficient
implementation of breed improvement programs.
At present, India is largely using Jersey, a native of Netherlands and British
origin Holstein for cross-breeding purposes.

3. Operation flood/ White Revolution in India

‘Operation flood’ a program started by National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) in 1970 made India the largest producer of the milk in the world. This
program with its whopping success was called as ‘The White Revolution’. The
main architect of this successful project was Dr. Verghese Kurien, also called
the father of White Revolution.
In 1949 Mr. Kurien joined Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union
(KDCMPUL), now famous as Amul.
Achievements of the White Revolution
• Increased milk production - The phenomenal growth of milk production
in India – from 20 million MT to 100 million MT in a span of just 40 years
– has been made possible only because of the dairy cooperative
movement. This has propelled India to emerge as the largest milk
producing country in the World today.
• Increased cattle population - The dairy cooperative movement has also
encouraged Indian dairy farmers to keep more animals, which has
resulted in the 500 million cattle & buffalo population in the country –
the largest in the World.
• Geographical spread - The dairy cooperative movement has spread
across the length and breadth of the country, covering more than
125,000 villages of 180 Districts in 22 States. d. The movement has been
successful because of a well-developed procurement system & supportive
federal structures at District & State levels.

4. Gobardhan Yojna
• The 19th Livestock Census (2012) estimates India’s cattle population at
300 million (highest in the world), putting the production of dung at
about 3 million tonnes per day. The productive use of dung could
support 1.5 million jobs nationally. For the farmer, there is a significant
potential of greater income from the sale of cow dung.
• The Gobardhan Yojana, announced in the Budget 2018-19, has been
launched by the Haryana Government.
• It would be implemented under Swacch Bharat Mission- Gramin with
twin objectives - To make villages clean and generate wealth and energy
from cattle and other waste.
• It would focus on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste
in farms to compost, biogas and bio-CNG.
• An online trading platform will also be created to connect farmers to
buyers so that they can get the right price for cow dung and agricultural
waste.
The challenge is to incentivize farmers to think of their cattle waste as a source
of income and, in the process, also keep their communities swachh.

5. Pashudhan Sanjivani
It is an animal wellness programme encompassing provision of Animal Health
Cards - "Nakul Swasthya Patra". It also issues UID identification of animals in
milk and establish a National Database for controlling the spread of animal
disease and keep tracking of trade in livestock and its products.

6. E-Pashudhan Haat Portal

• It is launched under the National Mission on Bovine Productivity for
connecting breeders and farmers of indigenous breeds.
• This portal helps farmers to be aware about breed wise information on
indigenous breeds.
• Farmers/breeders can sell animals of indigenous breeds through this
portal

Challenges in the Indian Dairy Sector

India has rapidly emerged as one of the largest producers of milk over the last
three decades, accounting for 18.5% of global milk production. But
inefficiencies in our dairy supply chain pose a serious health risk, which needs
to be addressed immediately.
• In developed markets, dairy aggregator companies depend on large
corporate dairy farms, whereas in India, dairy farming is largely a
subsistence activity. India‘s major milk supply comes from millions of
small producers who have an average of one or two milch animals
comprising cows and/or buffaloes.
• Additionally, only about 20% of the milk produce is channelled for
organised marketing, and the rest remains in the ambit of unorganised
supply chains. A large cadre of small time vendors are involved in
collecting milk from local producers and selling it in both urban and
rural areas. This kind of supply chains imply glaring inefficiencies, where
a large portion of the milk produced does not adhere to the basic
standards of hygiene.
• The issue is aggravated as over 80% of milk consumption in India is
liquid milk, which can pose serious health risks. Un-chilled and
unpasteurised milk can produce disease-causing germs and bacteria –
surveys iterate that as much as 68.5% of supplies are contaminated.

Suggestions
• To ensure that the Indian dairy industry continues to grow in a healthy
and sustainable manner it is important to reassess our supply chain. The
focus needs to be on modernising milk logistics in order to create toxin
free and antibiotic safe, high quality milk. At the start of the supply
chain, attention needs to be paid for managing and rearing cattle and
providing farms with the right kind of cattle feed.
• Secondly, processing and cold chain infrastructures‖ are in need of
massive upgrades in a leapfrog manner like during ―Operation Flood.
Quality-friendly technologies such as the Bulk Milk Coolers (BMC) that
brings down the time taken to cool down milk to about ‘45 minutes’ are
needed. Notably, it takes about 2-3 hours for the currently prevalent
central chilling/cold storage model - which enhances bacteria formation.
• Transporting raw milk beyond 200 km is not feasible, we need to ensure
a geographical distribution of sourcing and processing sites.
While all these will enhance the quality and shelf-life of milk, improvements in
the last mile connectivity will result in holistic betterment of the sector.

Fishery Sector in India

Recently, India became second largest fish producing country in the world.
Constituting about 6.3% of the global fish production, the sector contributes to
1.1% of the GDP and 5.15% of the agricultural GDP.

There are two branches of fishery sector namely Inland Fisheries and Marine
Fisheries. The total fish production has nearly 65% contribution from the inland
sector and rest form marine fishing.

Fish and fish products accounts for around 10% of the total exports of the
country and nearly 20% of the agricultural exports.

One of the most significant characteristics of Indian fisheries sector is its small-
scale nature. Besides being a source of protein rich nutritious food, income and
livelihood to poor fishers, the fisheries sector is important for engaging the rural
population in several ancillary activities-i.e. marketing, retailing, transportation
etc.

Challenges of Fishery Sector

• The sector suffers from low-scale, stagnating yields of inland and
freshwater aquaculture, and poor infrastructure such as cold storage
facilities, leading to an estimated 15-20 per cent post-harvest loss.
• The access to quality seed and feed for fish farming coupled with
inadequate availability of credit makes the poor fisher communities not
to invest in fish farming.
• For inland harvesting of fish there is no code of conduct for leasing of
water bodies
• Loss of habitat and indiscriminate fishing, marine fishing has declined
due to depleting resources, energy crisis and resultant high cost of
fishing.
• Enhanced human activity in aquatic areas creates the frequent
occurrence of dead zone/ Hypoxic zones leading to shifting or permanent
loss of fishing zone.
• The increased usage of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP), and other poor-
quality boats have amplified the ill-effects on marine culture.

Government’s Initiatives
1. Launched Centrally Sponsored Scheme on “Development of Inland
Fisheries and Aquaculture”.
2. Government has notified National Policy on Marine Fishing 2017.
3. Traditional fishers have been exempted from the fishing ban implemented
during monsoon period in the EEZ.
4. Prohibited the use of LED lights and other artificial lights and practice of
bull-trawling, purse seining and gill netting operations in the Indian EEZ to
protect the marine ecology.
5. Government has prepared a Census of fishermen, preparing a database of
fishing activities, installing tracking devices in fishing boats operating in the
waters in averse the accident on boast/vessel.
6. An umbrella scheme ‘Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and
Management of Fisheries’ has been formulated by merging all the existing
schemes. It will cover inland fisheries, aquaculture and marine fisheries
including deep sea fishing, mari-culture and all activities undertaken by the
National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).
7. Mission Fingerling: The mission aims to achieve enhanced fish production
in the country and to meet the targets under the Blue revolution by 2020-21.
Under this, potential states will be identified to strengthen the fish seed
infrastructure and facilitate the establishment of hatcheries and Fingerling
rearing pond.

Steps that can be taken

1. On par of agriculture -Aquaculture needs to be treated at par with
agriculture in terms of water, power tariff, tax benefits, subsidy, insurance and
credit.
2. Research on aquatic health management and development of disease
resistant strains of fish.
3.Special insurance system for the fishing community and cooperation in
safety and security of fishermen with neighbouring countries should be
paramount to averse the loss of many fishers’ lives.
4.Programmes aimed at production and distribution of quality seed and feed for
aquaculture and culture-based-capture fisheries, husbandry of farmed species
would be essential to optimize production and productivity from inland fisheries
and aquaculture in the country.
5. There should be up-gradation of the fleet as well as skills and capacities of
the fishers and incentives to promote diversified fishing in the offshore waters.
6. Use of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) and Artificial Reefs (ARs) for stock
enhancement and promotion of maricultural could enhance production.