The document discusses the challenges and opportunities in India's animal husbandry sector. It notes that the sector contributes significantly to India's economy but productivity is low compared to global standards, largely due to genetic limitations and poor farm management practices. It also faces issues like inadequate feed availability, lack of disease surveillance and quality control, insufficient investment, and shortage of trained human resources. With increased efforts in areas like breed improvement, entrepreneurship development, and specialized extension services, the sector can boost rural incomes and help fuel India's economic growth.

1. Challenges and Opportunities in Indian
Animal Husbandry Sector
Sanjit Maiti, Sanchita Garai, S K Jha & K S Kadian
Dairy Extension Division
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute Karnal-
132001, Haryana

2. • Farmers of marginal, small
and semi-medium
operational holdings (area
less than 4 ha) own about
87.7 per cent of the
livestock
• 20.5 million workers engaged in livestock sector
• Animal Husbandry along with agriculture
continues to be an integral part of human life
since the process of civilization started
Preamble

3. Livestock in Indian Economy
• Livestock population in India
• 300.00 million bovines
• 65.07 million sheep
• 135.2 million goats
• 10.3 million pigs
• The Gross Value Added from livestock sector at current
prices was about Rs. 4,06,035 crore during 2013-14
which is about 21.58 per cent of the Gross Value Added
from total agriculture, forestry and fishing sector
• The Livestock Sector was expanded by 5.5 per cent
during 2013-14 against the total agriculture, forestry
and fishing sectors growth of 3.7 per cent

4. Livestock Productivity: A Concern
• India ranks first in milk production, accounting for
18.5 per cent of world production
• Achieving an annual output of 146.3 million tonnes
during 2014-15 as compared to 137.69 million
tonnes during 2013-14 recording a growth of 6.26
per cent
• Over the last three decades (1982 to 2012), average
productivity of Indian cattle and buffaloes has
grown from 1.9 to 3.9 kg per day, and from 3.7 to
6.2 kg per day, respectively

5. • The average daily milk yield for crossbred cattle is better
at 7.1 kg per day, but still significantly lesser than the
best of global standards — UK, US and Israel are at 25.6,
32.8 and 38.6 kg per day, respectively.
The major causes of low productivity in India are:
• Intrinsic cause
– low genetic potential
• Extrinsic cause
– poor nutrition/feed management,
– inferior farm management practices,
– ineffective veterinary and extension services
– inefficient implementation of breed improvement
programmes

6. Increasing demand: A tough target
Share of Expenditure on Milk and Milk products in
Total Monthly per Capita Consumer Expenditure in
Rural India
Item 1987-88 1993-94
1999-
2000
2004-05 2012-13
Milk and Milk Products 8.6 9.3 10.1 10.6 11.3
Cereals and Pulses 30.1 27.6 24.1 20.37 18.9
Total Food 63.8 62.1 59.4 53.3 51.7
Total Non-food 36.2 37.9 40.6 46.7 48.3
Total Exp.
100.0
(158)
100.0
(286)
100.0
(436)
100.0
(579)
100.0
(836)
(Percent)
(Values in the parenthesis indicate expenditure in Rs per month. Data Sources: NSSO)

7. Global Consumption increasing faster than
Population growth...
• Global consumption of protein increased from 3.7 to 5.4 lakh
tonnes per day - CAGR of 2% .
• Global population increased from 5.4 to 7.0 billion - CAGR of 1% .
Demand for animal proteins likely to continue to increase
faster than other categories
22
9.8
16.4
47.6
4.2
24.9
10.3
18.4
41.4
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Meat Dairy F & V Cereals Others
1991 2011
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

8. Conservation of the indigenous breed:
A challenge
• India is the house 143
breeds of 13 livestock
species
• These breed is known
for adoptability to
climate and nutrition,
and resistance to
diseases and stress
• An immediate action is
needed for systematic
conservation, genetic
improvement and
sustainable utilization.

9. Feed and fodder scarcity: The prime weakness
• It is estimated that the 60-70 per cent of total cost in
livestock production is due to feed and fodder.
• Over the years, availability of various types of feed and
fodders has increased. In spite of this, there is a gap in
the availability vs. requirement.
• As per estimates, the deficit of dry fodder, concentrates
and green fodder currently is 10, 33 and 35 per cent
respectively, which by 2020 is likely to be 11 per cent, 35
per cent and 45 per cent.
• Therefore, any attempt towards enhancing feed
availability and economizing the feed cost would result
in increased margin of profits to livestock owners.

10. Monitoring and surveillance of animal
health: An urgent need
• Sufficient facility/setup for disease diagnosis, reporting,
epidemiology, surveillance and forecasting are not so
prevalent in India.
• Quality of the diagnostics available in the country is a
major concern.
• Managing livestock diseases through prophylactic
controls with strong laboratory diagnostic system is
the only option.

11. Quality control of milk in collection
route : Must be enforced
• Testing of milk for safety and quality parameters
at the collection centers is almost non-existent.
• Lack of proper anaerobic waste treatment and
dairy by product utilization are the other
concerns.
• Due to quality concerns of milk, value addition
and export potential has not been fully exploited.

12. Require Investment : A key for sustained
growth
• The livestock Sector is contributing about 3.88
per cent of total Gross Value added of the
Country at current prices and about 3.92 per
cent at constant prices (2011-12).
• Investment to livestock sector is very minimal
in comparison to contribution.
• Private investment can change the scenario.

13. Specialized livestock extension
services: A necessity
• Livestock extension services are almost absent in
India.
• Only 5.1 per cent of the farm households were able
to access any information on animal husbandry
against 40.4 per cent for crop farming as revealed
by NSSO
• Therefore, a separate specialized extension services
must be initiated for livestock sector to address the
demand of the livestock rearers.

14. Indian Milk Production(137.7 MT )
Unorganized Sector~110 MT
(80%)
Organized Sector ~28 MT (20 %)
[ Private Dairies-532,
Cooperatives-254
Government-46]
Retained or
sold at rural
level
~(41%)
Liquid Milk
(13.5%)
Value added
products (6.5%)
Loose milk
sold in urban
areas
~ (17%)
Value added
products{most
ly traditional}
(22%)
Shifts from unorganized to the
organized sector
Shifts from unorganized to the organized
sector: A major challenge

15. Qualified human resources: An urgent
requirement
• The veterinary and animal science services are a highly
specialized area and need qualified technical
manpower.
• An approximately, 35000 veterinarians are employed
for field services against the requirement of 67,000.
• Shortage of technical manpower for teaching, research
and extension and for field services is affecting to the
quality of services.
• Hence, to bridge this gap, young talented mind can be
attracted in the animal husbandry sector

16. Entrepreneurship development: Must be
encouraged
• ICAR-NDRI, Karnal is taking lead in entrepreneurship
development in dairy sector through Business Planning
and Development (BPD) Unit.
• 16 incubatees were enrolled under the mentorship of
scientists of NDRI, Karnal and graduated to start their
business ventures.
• Six entrepreneurs initiated their ventures under the
business incubation through SINED (TBI) during the
year 2015-16.
• (EDP) resulted in establishment of more than 170
business ventures including 130 dairy farms, 37 milk
processing units, 3 food processing units and one feed
manufacturing units.

17. Conclusion
• Livestock are often considered as “bank on hooves” in
times of need by its rearers.
• Growth of this sector can be witnessed by:
– Increasing capacity of the stakeholders
– Establishing producer companies as well as start-up
companies
– Gender mainstreaming
– Attracting youth from both farm and non-farm sector
Therefore, as much as animal husbandry sector will
grow, the economic well being of the people of this
country will glow.