Animal Rearing

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY SECTOR

Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy.

• About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood.
• contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households.
• provides livelihood to two-third of rural community.
• contributes 31.25% of total Agriculture GDP during 2016-17.

Why is livestock sector important for supplementing the farming sector?

• Additional source of income: Specially in the arid and semi-arid regions where livestock sector is the main source of family income.
• Employment even during lean agricultural season.
• Nutritional security: reduces rural poverty by preventing additional expenditure for food
• Equitable distribution: expanding demand for animal food products generates opportunities for the poor to escape poverty through diversifying and intensifying livestock production.
• Social security: to the owners in terms of their status in the society, which also acts as a guard against getting driven into poverty.
• Resilience to climate change: less prone to global warming and climate change, it can be considered more reliable than rain-fed agriculture. Livestock production and marketing can help stabilize the food supplies and provide individuals and communities with a buffer against economic shocks and natural disasters.

What are the issues faced by the Animal Husbandry Sector?

• Limited Artificial Insemination services owing to deficiency in quality germplasm, infrastructure and technical manpower coupled with poor conception rate.
• received only about 12 per cent of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors disproportionately lesser than its contribution to agricultural GDP.
• share of livestock in the total agricultural credit has never exceeded 4% in the total (short-term, medium-term and long-term).
• only 6 per cent of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover. Livestock extension has remained grossly neglected in the past.
• average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50 per cent of the global average.
• The frequent outbreaks of diseases like Foot and Mouth Diseases, Black Quarter infection; Influenza,  etc. continue to affect Livestock health and lowers productivity.
• India’s huge population of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gases emission. Reducing greenhouse  gases through mitigation and adaptation strategies will be a major challenge.

Steps taken by the Government

• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF): Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs AHIDF worth Rs. 15000 crores. Expected benefits from the scheme-
• Investment: leverage around seven times private investment. It will ensure availability of capital to meet upfront investment, enhance overall returns and pay back for investors.
• Employment generation: help in direct and indirect livelihood creation for 35 lakh people.
• Benefit for Farmers: Almost 50-60% of final value of dairy output in India flows back to farmers. Thus, growth would directly impact farmer’s income. Also motivate farmers to invest more on inputs thereby driving higher productivity.
• It would promote exports of the processed and value-added commodities:
• National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP): to control the livestock diseases the foot and mouth disease and brucellosis in livestock by 2025 and eradicate these by 2030.

Way Forward

• Overcoming feed and fodder scarcity and improvements in delivery of animal health and breeding services.
• Technology key driver of growth and concerted efforts to generate and disseminate yield-enhancing and yield-saving technologies.
• Public spending needs to be increased to re-energize the livestock sector.
• Strengthening linkages between production and markets through institutions such as cooperatives, producers’ associations and contract farming.
• Institutional support in terms of credit and insurance is meager and needs to be strengthened.
• Government efforts to promote the sector by measures like establishing the Indian Council of Veterinary and Animal Science Education and Research, Schemes like Operation Flood, Kamdhenu scheme, etc.
• Further, governments and industry should prepare producers for a quality-driven competition in the domestic as well as global market.

DAIRY SECTOR

• India ranks first in milk production since 1998 accounting for 20 per cent of world production and with milk production of 176.3 million tonne in 2017-18.
• India also has the largest bovine population in the world.
• Operation Flood (1970–1996) helped India to boost its milk production. India's milk production has grown by over 10 times since 1950.
• National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 70th round survey, more than one-fifth (23 per cent) of agricultural households with very small parcels of land (less than 0.01 hectare) reported livestock as their principal source of income.
• 2018-19 Economic Survey, of the total milk produced in rural areas around 52% is the marketable surplus.
• Of this surplus, about 36% of the milk sold is handled by the organized sector (evenly shared by Co- operative & Private Dairies) and the rest by the unorganized sector.
• Budget 2020 aims to double the country’s milk processing capacity by 2025. (from 53.5 million tonne to 108 million tonne).
• In India milk production is growing by 6.4% during the last 5 years and has increased from 146.3 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 to 187.7 mt in 2018-19.

Recent Steps taken by Government for the sector

Scenario during COVID-19

• Demand of Milk reduced by 20-25% which indirectly created a supply glut. For instance, 560 Lakh litre per day (LLPD) was procured by cooperatives against daily sale of 360 LLPD.
• To overcome this issue: total 111 Crore Litres extra were procured during the crises ensuring a payment of Rs 4100 Cr. to the producers.
• A new scheme to provide interest subvention at 2% per annum to dairy cooperatives for 2020-21
• Central government has made some changes in Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) scheme to take the white revolution (associated with milk production) to the next level.
• Expected Benefits of this step:
• It will benefit 95 lakh milk producers covering 50,000 villages.
• There will also be the creation of an additional 210 tonnes per day milk drying capacity, modernization, expansion and creation of milk processing capacity of 126 lakh litre per day.
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) campaign was launched for 1.5 crore Dairy Farmers as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package to cover 2.5 crore new farmers under KCC scheme.

India deciding against joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), beneficial to dairy sector. As the deal offered zero-duty imports of cheaper dairy products, the sector was concerned about heavy competition in both price and technology. Indian farmers are paid an estimated 60% of milk prices whereas it is only 23% and 24% in New Zealand and Australia respectively.

 

What makes milk and milk products such a big deal for India?

• Milk is the country’s largest “crop”.
• In 2018-19, the estimated production of milk, at 187.75 million tonnes (mt), was more than that of paddy (174.63 mt) or wheat (102.19 mt).
• Milk is, moreover, a source of liquidity for farmers, as it is sold daily and generates cash to take care of routine household expenses, unlike other crops that are marketed only once or twice a year.
• But milk matters equally to consumers in India, because it meets the animal protein/fat requirements of a significant portion of the population that is vegetarian.
• Milk, in the Indian context, is also a ‘superior’ food with income elasticity of demand greater than one. This means that as incomes rise, the demand for milk goes up even more.

Challenges faced:

• Indian cattle and buffaloes have among the lowest productivity.
• shortage of organized dairy farms and need of investment to take dairy industry to global standards.
• Improving productivity of farm animals
• Crossbreeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to enhance genetic potential of different species has been successful only to a limited extent.
• adjustment pressure to the emerging market force, stringent food safety and quality norms
• Access to markets is critical to speed up commercialization. Lack of access to markets may act as a disincentive to farmers to adopt improved technologies and quality inputs

 

So, where does the RCEP come in?

• Global dairy trade takes place not in milk, but in the solids that derive from it — mainly milk powder, butter/butter oil, and cheese.
• 50 million will be jobless if RCEP comes into picture. 
• RCEP would affect small holders because Indian dairy industry is totally in their hands.
• India isn’t a Till the eighties, it used to import up to 50,000-60,000 tonnes of skim milk powder and 10,000-15,000 tonnes of butter oil annually, largely channelised through the National Dairy Development Board.Over the past couple of decades, with sustained production increases, the country has become self-sufficient, or even marginally surplus.
• dairy product exports surpassing imports in most years, although their values are insignificant relative to both domestic output and global trade.
• One reason for India’s imports being low is the high tariffs, especially on milk powder (60%) and fats (40%).
• If dairy products are covered under an RCEP deal, India may have to allow members of the bloc greater access to its market, whether through phased duty reductions or more liberal tariff rate quotas (TRQs).
• There is an already existing TRQ for milk powder, which enables import of up to 10,000 tonnes per year at 15% customs duty, and quantities beyond that at the regular rate of 60%.
• The Indian dairy industry is resisting any enhanced TRQs or other import concessions, even if extended only to RCEP countries, as opposed to the US or European Union.

Government initiatives:

• National Programme for Bovine Breeding
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission
• National Bovine Genetic Centre
• Quality Mark
• National Kamdhenu Breeding Centres
• E-Pashuhaat portal
• National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
• Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS)
• National Dairy Plan-I (NDP-I)
• Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)
• Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations engaged in dairy activities (SDCFPO)

 

Way Forward

• Dairy industry must modernize itself with a focus to export our milk and milk products.
• Balance between FTA and dairy industry & between interest of farmers and consumers.
• The supply glut that has caused the milk price crash is an opportunity to create a skimmed milk powder buffer stock and incentivise investment in milk products.
• Incentivise investments in value-added products in the organised sector — like curd, buttermilk, cheese, ice-cream and even chocolates.
• Bring down cost of production to the farmers and improve the quality and quantity of milk.
• This can help farmers stabilise their milk prices.
• Expand domestic demand for higher milk consumption through concerted campaigns, especially in the 115 aspirational districts where malnutrition is high.
• In these districts, the government could introduce milk in mid-day meal schemes and under NFSA. 
• Use the SMP buffer to supply large quantities to the armed forces, hospitals and other large institutional players.
• In order to cut down costs of milk production, India needs to increase the productivity of its milch animals, that is far below the global
• Cross-breeding with high-productivity animals of foreign breeds and pure indigenous breeds is the way forward.
• The country needs to ramp its R&D and agriculture extension department to transform this sector into a vibrant, competitive and more remunerative sector for farmers.

India’s livestock sector is one of the largest in the world. About 20.5 million people depend upon livestock for their livelihood. Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community. It also provides employment to about 8.8 % of the population in India. India has vast livestock resources. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP.

Trends in livestock population: (Source: 20th Livestock Census)

• Total Livestock population is 535.78 million- an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012.
• Total Bovine population (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun and Yak)-79 Million in 2019- an increase of about 1% over the previous census.
• A decline of 6 % in the total Indigenous/ Non-descript cattle population over the previous census.
• The population of cows in the country has risen by 18 per cent in the last seven years, while that of oxen dipped by 30 per cent
• 16.8 per cent increase in the poultry population in the country to 851.81 million, mainly on account of a 46 per cent rise in backyard poultry birds, whose numbers have gone up to 317 million.
• The number of female cattle is 145.12 million, which is 18 per cent over the 122.98 million in 2012. The number of male cattle, on the other hand, dropped to 47.4 million as against 67.92 million in 2012.
• While cattle accounted for 35.94 per cent of total livestock in the country, goats accounted for 27.80 per cent, buffaloes: 20.45 per cent, sheep: 13.87 per cent and pigs: 1.69 per cent.

Role of livestock in socio-economic life of India:

The livestock plays an important role in the economy of farmers. The farmers in India maintain mixed farming system i.e. a combination of crop and livestock where the output of one enterprise becomes the input of another enterprise thereby realize the resource efficiency. The livestock serve the farmers in different ways.

• Income:
• source of subsidiary income for many families especially the resource poor
• provide regular income to the livestock farmers through sale of milk.
• sheep and goat sources of income during emergencies to meet exigencies
• serve as moving banks and assets which provide economic security to the owners.
• Employment: 
• agriculture being seasonal in nature could provide employment for a maximum of 180 days in a year. land less and less land people depend upon livestock for utilizing their labour during lean agricultural season.
• Food:
• products such as milk, meat and eggs are an important source of animal protein to the members of the livestock owners.
• Social security:
• to the owners in terms of their status in the society.
• The families especially the landless which own animals are better placed than those who do not.
• Gifting of animals during marriages is a very common phenomenon
• Rearing of animals is a part of the Indian culture. Animals are used for various socio religious functions. Bulls and Cows are worshipped during various religious functions. Many owners develop attachment to their animals.
• 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 and animals are stall-fed.
• Draft: 
• The bullocks are the back bone of Indian agriculture.
• The farmers especially the marginal and small depend upon bullocks for ploughing, carting and transport of both inputs and outputs.
• Dung:
• In rural areas dung is used for several purposes which include fuel (dung cakes), fertilizer (farm yard manure), and plastering material (poor man’s cement).

Its successful, sustainable and skilful implementation will go a long way in ameliorating the socio-economic condition of lower strata of our society. Linking the animal husbandry with food processing industry, agriculture, researches & patents has all the possible potential to make India a nutritional power house of the world. Animal husbandry is the imperative hope, definite desire and urgent panacea for India as well as the world.

Fisheries

• India has vast potential for fisheries considering long coastline of about 8118 km, and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million sq Km apart from the inland water resources.
• The annual fishery potential of the country’s EEZ is about 5 million tonnes.
• India has large coastal wetlands which cover an area of over 40,230 km2.
• Marine Fisheries is branch of fisheries which deals primarily with marine fishes and other sea products. For E.g. Oil sardines, tunas, crabs, marine algae etc.
• India is the second largest fish producer in the world with a total production of 13.7 million metric tonnes in 2018-19, 65% from inland fisheries 
• 5.23 % share of agricultural GDP important sector of food production providing nutritional security. livelihood support and gainful employment to more than 14 million people, and contributing to agricultural exports.
• helps in maintaining the contribution national economic development, tourism and recreation.

Fisheries sector in India

• important source of food, nutrition, employment and income
• livelihoods to about 16 million fishers and fish farmers at the primary level and almost twice the number along the value chain.
• accounts for about 6.58 per cent share of Agricultural GDP
• marine exports about 5% of total exports of India and constitute 19.23 % of Agri-exports (2017- 18).
• fish production average annual growth rate of more than 7%.

Challenges  

• Issue with Deep sea Fishing: opening of Indian seas to the foreign factory fishing ships.  
• no suitable data is available about the deep sea resources.
• needs higher capital investment and recurring cost.
• non availability of skilled manpower 
• Unorganized marketing system: does not have any forward or backward linkages. wide difference between fish sale price at landing centres and the retail market middlemen is benefitted
• Unutilised resources: Most discarded except for high value resources like shrimps and sharks.
• Lack of value addition technology: and further standardization of the developed technology by research institutes.  
• Lack of Infrastructure facility: like Standard Boat building yards for construction of New boats and repair of existing crafts, exclusive fishing harbor etc.
• Declining catches and overfishing in coastal waters due to Climate change
• Habitat degradation (industrial waste, domestic sewage, pesticides), Illegal, unreported and unregulated landings etc.
• Post harvest losses due to discard, spoilage, reduced quality.  
• No social security: to fishing community 

Way forward

• Funding needs to be channelized considering the importance and scope of the deep-sea sector in the coming years. refinancing from NABARD or subsidy schemes may be made available to the interested entrepreneurs 
• Special insurance system for the fishing community and cooperation in safety and security of fishermen with neighbouring countries 
• Revival of cooperative sector with constant engagement of government 
• Training: Pro-active support to facilitate industry privatization initiatives with a view to making it more efficient and competitive. 
• Awareness: on the edible qualities and the nutrient values of the non-conventional resources among the public so as to generate a free market.
• Research and development programmes 
• Conservation of sea resources
• Cooperative governance between centre & state over different territories of sea is key to the sustainable management of marine fisheries, which should ideally go into the Concurrent List.

Steps taken by government

• Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries to increase both fish production and fish productivity from aquaculture and fisheries resources of the inland and marine fisheries sector including deep sea fishing.
• draft national policy on Mariculture to ensure sustainable farmed seafood production for food and nutritional security of the nation.  
• National Policy on Marine Fishing 2017.  Draft National Fisheries Policy 2020
• "Letter of Permit"(LOP) system in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) stopped in order to boost the livelihood of local fisherman.
• Traditional fishers have been exempted from the fishing ban implemented during monsoon period in the EEZ.  
• 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.
• Separate dept of fisheries 
• Creation of fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure development fund 

Issues faced by the fisheries sector

• Limited scope for expansion due to overcapacities in territorial waters, weak regulation, inefficient management and prevalence of traditional fishing practices.
• Inadequate infrastructure especially fishing harbours, landing centers, cold chain and distribution systems, poor processing and value addition, wastage, traceability and certification, non-availability of skilled manpower, etc.
• In inland capture fisheries, seasonal nature of fishing operations, depleted stocks in natural waters, issues related with tenure and lease rights, use of obsolete technology for harvesting coupled with low capital infusion are some of the significant limiting factors.
• Disease, absence of species diversification and genetic improvement, poor brood and seed are species specific constraints
• Other issues include high input cost, lack of access to institutional credit, credit guarantee and insurance, environmental sustainability etc.

Hence, National Fisheries Policy seeks to consolidate the sectoral gains and ensure sustainable growth through policy support in order to enable and accelerate fisheries development.

Department of Fisheries released the Draft National Fisheries Policy (NFP) 2020.

Key Features of the draft Policy:

• Fisheries Management Plan (FMPs): for scientific management and regulation of marine fisheries resources of the country in consultation with the concerned State by adopting Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF).
• Integrated Fisheries Development Plan (IFDP): for Islands to enhance the share in their economy.
• Fisheries Spatial Plans (FSP): State governments based on guidelines prepared by the central government for data management, analysis, modeling and decision making, after taking cognizance of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.
• Legislation: comprehensive legislation (“National Marine Fisheries (Regulation and Management) Bill, 2019”) for holistic resource utilization in EEZ.
• Database: National Fisheries Data Acquisition Plan involving Central and State Governments, and other stake holders to collect and report field data about various fisheries resources.
• National Fisheries Development Council: to provide overall guidance for implementation of the Policy, review its objectives and progress.
• National Marine Fisheries Authority: powers to ensure sustainable fishing, implementing fisheries management plan, capacity building etc.
• Cluster approach for development of aquaculture: based on production strengths of various geographical regions in order to enable focused and coordinated development of market and export oriented higher value species.

Various interventions in different sector include:

• Fisheries Management:
• In ‘Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (ABNJ) where there is considerable scope to harvest fishery resources in the high seas, the Government will promote harnessing the fishery resources.
• Foreign fishing vessels will not be allowed to fish or undertake fishing related activities in India’s sovereign waters.
• Mariculture:
• Genetically Modified (GM) species shall not be allowed for mariculture activity.
• Within the identified mariculture zones, the government shall designate certain areas as mariculture technology parks.
• Inland Fisheries
• Population of native species in the rivers will be enhanced through seed ranching of native stock by developing dedicated seed production units in the vicinity.
• State/ UTs may declare certain water bodies as “Reserves for fish” to conserve important fish species in a suitable wetland.
• Introduction of suitable high value species to boost culture fisheries in cold waters in association with advanced countries e.g. Salmon, Sturgeon, Brown Trout etc.
• Freshwater Aquaculture: Efforts will be made by States to enhance fish production and productivity through application of technology and formation of Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) to cater small pond holder’s needs.
• Brackish Water Aquaculture: In order to ensure that the fish produced from waste water aquaculture is safe for consumption, appropriate regulatory, management and precautionary measures will be put in place in coordination with relevant agencies.