Executive Summary and Major Recommendations:

1. India’s livestock sector is one of the largest in the world. It has 56.7% of world’s buffaloes, 12.5% cattle, 20.4% small ruminants, 2.4% camel, 1.4% equine, 1.5% pigs and 3.1% poultry. 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.
2. Demand for animal food products is responsive to income changes, and is expected to increase in future. Between 1991-92 and 2008-09, India’s per capita income grew at an annual rate of 4.8% and urban population at a rate of 2.5%.These trends are likely to continue. By the end of 12^th Plan, demand for milk is expected to increase to 141 million tons and for meat, eggs and fish together to15.8 million tons. Global market for animal products is expanding fast, and is an opportunity for India to improve its participation in global market.
3. Livestock sector grew at an annual rate of 5.3% during 1980s, 3.9% during 1990s and 3.6% during 2000s. Despite deceleration, growth in livestock sector remained about 1.5 times larger than in the crop sector which implies its critical role in cushioning agricultural growth.
4. Distribution of livestock is more equitable compared to 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, two-thirds of small ruminants (goat, sheep) and pigs as well as poultry as against their share of 24% in land. Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households as against an average of 14% for all rural households.
5. The growth in livestock sector is demand-driven, inclusive and pro-poor. 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. The average yield of milk and meat in our animals is 20-60% lower than the global average. Further, their production potential is not realized fully because of constraints related to feeding, breeding, health and management. Deficiency of feed and fodder accounts for half of the total loss, followed by the problems of breeding and reproduction (21%) and diseases (18%).Frequent outbreaks of diseases like FMD, BQ, PPR, Brucellosis, Swine fever and Avian Influenza etc. continue to reduce productivity and production. However, the available veterinary support in terms of infrastructure (for hospitals and diagnostic labs), technical manpower, is insufficient.
6. Livestock sector receives only about 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors and about 4-5% of the total institutional credit flowing to agriculture and allied sectors. Only 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry) are provided insurance cover. Livestock extension remains grossly neglected. Only about 5% of the farm households in India do access information on livestock. Organized slaughtering facilities are too inadequate.
7. Lack of access to organized markets and meager profits distract farmers from investing into improved technologies and quality inputs. Informal market intermediaries often exploit the producers.
8. Milk production increased from around 20 million tons in 1960s to 115 million tons in 2010-11. It grew at an annual rate of 4.4% during 1990s and 3.8% during 2000s. Although per capita availability of milk has increased from 128 g/day in 1980-81 to 267 g/day in 2010-11,it is far below the requirement of 280 g
9. In an effort to increase milk production, the Government of India has been implementing the “National Project for Cattle and Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB)”since 2000 with focus on genetic upgradation of cattle and streamlining AI services and support system. The progress in the area of bull production and evaluation has been slow because of constraints of small herd size, lack of interest on the part of states, little or no initiative to support/ form breed societies, and absence of effective extension network. Most government AI centers are still stationary due to deficiency of manpower and transport facility. Its component on propagation of indigenous milk breeds also did not make much mark. The “National Dairy Plan(NDP)”,a world Bank Funded project, due to start in early 2012 envisages increasing productivity of milch animals through provision of good quality semen, door step AI services and scientific feeding.
10. Small ruminants provide much needed livelihood support to the landless and weaker sections and hold considerable potential for commercialization. A stable sheep population in the last two decades produced around 40 million kg wool annually, of which only 4 million kg is of fine quality. Goat population grew faster than any other species of livestock and has been a major source of meat.
11. Shrinking and degrading pastures coupled with limitations of fodder, lack of sufficient veterinary care and apathy to assisted reproductive technologies have been the major constraints. The potential of raising Pashmina goats’ viz. Changthangi in Ladakh and Chegu in Himachal Pradesh remains under exploited. Interventions by the DAHD&F have hardly addressed any of the above issues.
12. Although, major concentration of pigs is in NE and eastern states, it is not able to meet the pork requirement of NE states. Predominantly non-descript pig populations there have poor productivity. High cost of concentrate feed, non­availability of swine fever vaccine and quality germplasm, lack of organized slaughter and market facilities have been the major constraints. A scheme on Piggery Development was started in XI plan with allocation of 150.0 crores. However, no expenditure has been made.
13. Indian poultry industry is well equipped and organized to achieve target growth rate of 11% for commercial broilers and 7% for layers although it failed to diversify in favor of duck, quail, turkey and emu production. Rural poultry sector however, needs financial, infrastructure and technological support to raise the present 2% growth rate to 3%. Need-based import of grandparent stock of reputed international brands may be continued with strict enforcement of bio­security measures.
14. Yaks are spread over J&K, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh while mithun are distributed in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. They provide meat, milk, wool, leather and transport. Major rearing constraints included fewer profits, poor productivity due to inbreeding because of lack of exotic germplasm, non-availability of feed, health services and lack of support services. Camel and equine population have shown a decline. The population of Mewari and Kutchhi camel as dromedaries and double humped camel-bactrians and all the six registered Indian breeds of equines need special attention as these may be threatened in numbers. There is a need to have a national equine breeding policy.
15. India has a broad spectrum of native breeds of cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep, swine, equine, camel and poultry with merits of adoptability to climate and nutrition, and resistance to diseases and stress. Populations of most of these breeds have alarmingly gone down due to comparative preferences for high producing exotic breeds. This calls for an immediate action for systematic conservation, genetic improvement and sustainable utilization of indigenous livestock breeds.
16. Although availability of feed resources has improved, the deficit of dry fodder, concentrates and green fodder currently is 10, 33 and 35%, respectively. Only 25% of forage seeds are available, that too of 15-20 years old varieties. The schemes of Fodder and Feed development have not delivered the desired results. An “Accelerated Fodder Development Program (AFDP)’ with a budgetary outlay of Rs.300 crore has lately been initiated in the DAC although the DAHDF is the end user. The lack of convergence between the two departments has seriously affected the fodder development program. It is understood that the ICAR is also in the process of formulating a ‘Fodder Mission’. Such disjointed and lackadaisical efforts may not yield the desired results in enhancing the green fodder production in the country.
17. Sufficient facility / setup for disease diagnosis, reporting, epidemiology, surveillance and forecasting are not on board. Several diagnostic kits required for disease surveillance and monitoring are imported at a huge cost. The limited diagnostics available in the country are produced by few laboratories and are not of desired quality. Managing livestock diseases through prophylactic controls with strong laboratory diagnostic system is the only option. Appropriate measures to deal with imminent climate change are yet to become visible.
18. The dairy cooperative network in the country includes 254 cooperative milk processing units, 177 milk unions covering 346 districts and over 1, 33,000 village-level societies with a total membership of nearly 14 million farmers. Besides handling liquid milk, these plants manufacture value-added products. Testing of milk for safety and quality parameters at the collection centers is almost non-existent. Lack of proper anaerobic waste treatment and dairy by­product utilization are the other concerns. Due to quality concerns of milk, value addition and export potential has not been fully exploited.
19. Meat production from the recognized sources is estimated to be 3.96 MT and has increased at 4.1% annually during the last 5 years. Buffalo meat has grown at around 8% annually. Cattle and buffalo, sheep and goat, pigs, and poultry contribute 55.0%, 17.1%, 11.4% and 16.3%, respectively to total meat production. Inedible offal’s and animal wastes from the meat plant have large potential to be used as valuable proteins/materials for export. There is also huge demand of Indian ethnic meat products in the international market. However, lack of international processing standards is the hindrance. Unfortunately, schemes on modernization of slaughterhouses and by-product utilization have not been effectively implemented.
20. Bulk of the investment for livestock development comes from the state governments. The central government contributes about 10% to the total investment. There is hardly any private sector investment in animal husbandry. The dairy sector, however, has attracted considerable private investment in processing, value addition and marketing. Flow of institutional credit, mainly the commercial banks is about 10%. More than 70% of the refinance disbursement by NABARD goes for dairy development. Investment linked tax incentives and attractive credit facility to private investors are missing.
21. Livestock insurance provided by the public sector insurance companies could cover only about 6% of the animal heads (excluding poultry). Cooperatives and agribusiness firms (in case of contract farming) should facilitate provision of insurance cover by providing premium on behalf of the farmers, which may be recovered in installments or lump sum from their sale proceeds. Innovative and acceptable insurance models may be designed to evolve a suitable scheme for various species/states.
22. The information on livestock population and production generated through the Quinquennial Livestock Census and Integrated Sample Survey is neither authentic nor timely mainly due to precarious shortage of staff. This adversely affects the quality of the estimates. The Census should compile breed-wise information so as to know the livestock diversity, breed status and should be conducted by the skilled persons having capability to recognize the animal characteristics. Data on the input use in the livestock sector should be collected systematically and cost of production estimates worked out.
23. Microbial contamination, antibiotic residues and adulteration in milk, meat and animal feed is rampant. Quality control for veterinary drugs and vaccines is almost non-existant. There is a need to establish food testing laboratories duly accredited by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to check adulteration.
24. As in the developed countries, the responsibility to inspect meat and milk should rest with Veterinary Public Health specialists and not with medical professionals.
25. Livestock production activities are largely in the hands of women. The rapidly increasing demand for livestock products creates opportunities for their empowerment. Harnessing these, however, would require addressing constraints that women face. Appropriate policy and institutional arrangements such as establishment of “Women Livestock Producer Associations” would facilitate availing credit, insurance and other inputs and marketing services. Training women would reduce drudgery to women and improve animal productivity and enhance their economic returns.
26. Livestock extension services are almost absent. The extension format, methodology and set-up established for agriculture has failed to cater to the needs of the livestock sector. Consequently, only 5.1% of the farm households were able to access any information on animal husbandry against 40.4% for crop farming. The only centrally sponsored scheme on “Livestock extension and delivery services” with a budgetary outlay of Rs.15.00 crore remained non­operational.
27. Considering the existing orientation of livestock production systems and specialized requirements of livestock owners, it would be desirable to have a differentiated approach of providing extension and input services. This would call for building up an exclusive cadre of livestock extension workers, establishment of KVKs exclusively for livestock activities and strengthening ATMA with AH experts. Public–Private-Partnership (PPP) in extension should be promoted for convergence and sharing of resources.
28. The veterinary and animal science services are a highly specialized area and need qualified technical manpower. Only 34,500 veterinarians are employed for field services against the requirement of 67,000. Similarly, against the requirement of 7500 veterinary scientists for teaching and research, only 3050 are available. Availability of Para-vets and other supporting staff is only 52,000 against the requirement of 2,59,000. Shortage of technical manpower for teaching, research and extension and for field services is affecting quality of manpower and services. Further, Veterinary infrastructure in general is poor, inadequate and need strengthening.

Major Recommendations:

1. For achieving targeted growth rate of 5 -6 % in milk production, provision should be made 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 stations established to ensure availability of minimum 150 million doses of quality semen to cover 40% breedable cows and buffaloes and 70% AI delivery at farmers’ doorstep. Larger focus should on field progeny testing for quality bull production. Both NPCBB and NDP should be implemented in tandem.
2. Profitability in sheep and goat would largely come from increased meat and to some extent wool/ hair production. The focus should be to adopt semi-intensive/ commercial production systems, application of assisted reproductive technologies and provision of improved quality feed and fodder and health care specially control of PPR. A community/ institutional approach, establishing meat processing plant and developing adequate market linkages are suggested.
3. A mission on Pig Production should be initiated in North-eastern region and other eastern states. Strengthening/establishment of pig breeding units, arranging feed inputs, quality germplasm, vaccines and diagnostics, processing plants and developing market linkages should be integral part of the Mission.
4. For increasing growth rate from present 2% to 3% in rural poultry, a rural poultry mission project with focus on providing low input birds should be initiated. ICAR may participate and make available the low input birds.
5. Conservation of Animal Genetic Resource (AnGR ) should be a national responsibility and conservation activities implemented with 100 percent central assistance. Threatened breeds with unique characteristics should receive priority. There must be at least one farm for each breed in its native tract.
6. The DAHDF should initiate a major ‘Feed and Fodder Mission’ for addressing the problem of shortages of quality fodder seed production, and nutritional enhancement of crop by-products with effective collaboration with DAC and ICAR. A comprehensive strategy for rejuvenation of natural grasslands/ pastures/ common property resources for enhancing their productivity is also required.
7. The existing Immunization programs for FMD, PPR, Brucellosis and other important diseases should be the national commitment with 100% central funding. A comprehensive national network of diagnostic laboratories should be established. The vaccine and diagnostic production should be privatized with suitable incentives. Existing State Biological Vaccine production units should be phased out in a given time frame. Mobile veterinary services should be introduced and treatment provided at cost. A Veterinary Drug Control Authority should be put in place.
8. Dairy plants should have inbuilt mechanism for anaerobic waste treatment and dairy by-product utilization. Government should defray a sizable portion of the capital costs. Some incentives in the form of tax holiday may be given to milk by-product industry to attract private investment in this sector.
9. Suitable incentives should be provided for setting up of rural abattoirs, establishment of new and modernization of existing slaughter houses, meat processing units, and high value by-product plants for ensuring quality meat production. Rearing of buffalo male calves for meat should receive priority.
10. Well-equipped laboratories for testing adulterants, antibiotics residues, and food borne pathogens should be established to enhance safety and quality of animal feeds and foods.
11. The share of animal husbandry in agricultural credit should be increased at least to 10% and interest rate on animal husbandry credit should be at par with crop loan. The facility of the Kisan credit cards should be extended to all livestock farmers. Livestock insurance coverage should be expanded to all types of production systems and species with appropriate incentive framework.
12. Livestock economics, business management and market intelligence should be strengthened. The earlier recommendation of XI Plan for establishment of Institute for Livestock Information and Policy Studies is reiterated.
13. A differentiated approach of providing extension and input services at the farmers’ doorstep should be adopted. Dedicated KVKs exclusively for livestock should be established for training and demonstration. Para-vets should receive larger focus in respect of trainings and delivery of technologies. Public–Private-Partnership (PPP) in extension should be promoted for convergence and sharing of resources. Major program on livestock extension, delivery of services and women empowerment should be initiated in 12^th plan to enhance efficiency of production.
14. The issue of shortage of manpower in veterinary and animal sciences should be addressed on priority and appropriate funds for strengthening of infrastructure for veterinary education and research must be made available. Veterinary colleges/ veterinary universities should receive special grants to develop appropriate infrastructure to meet the manpower shortage in a given time frame.
15. Establishment of Indian Council of Veterinary and Animal Science Education and Research (ICVAER) as proposed in 11^th plan is reiterated. This would greatly help in better coordination and producing appropriate technologies for enhancing livestock productivity and achieving targeted growth rates.
16. The ongoing Schemes and new initiatives should be placed under three mega schemes with wider freedom and flexibility for states to choose the components.
17. A minimum of 35 – 40% of the allocation under the flagship scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana ( RKVY) must be earmarked for animal husbandry and dairy sector activities.
18. A budgetary outlay of Rs.31,560 Crores is recommended for animal husbandry and dairy sector to achieve growth rate of 6%.

Source:

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