Livestock plays an important role in Indian economy. 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.

Livestock resources

India is

• World’s highest livestock owner at about 535.78 million
• First in the total buffalo population in the world - 109.85 million buffaloes
• Second in the population of goats - 148.88 million goats Second largest poultry market in the world
• Second largest producer of fish and also second largest aquaculture nation in the world
• Third in the population of sheep (74.26 millions)
• Fifth in in the population of ducks and chicken (851.81 million)
• Tenth in camel population in the world - 2.5 lakhs

Contribution of livestock to people

The livestock provides food and non-food items to the people.

1. Food: The livestock provides food items such as Milk, Meat and Eggs for human consumption. India is number one milk producer in the world. It is producing about 176.34 million tones of milk in a year (2017-18). Similarly it is producing about 95.22 billions of eggs, 7.70 million tonnes of meat in a year. The value of output of livestock sector at current prices was Rs 9,17,910 crores at current prices during 2016-17 which is about 31.25% of the value of output from agricultural and allied sector. At constant prices the value of output from livestock was about 31.11% of the value of the output from total agriculture and allied sector. During the financial year 2017-18, the total fish production in India is estimated at 12.61 Million Metric tonnes.

2. Fibre and skins: The livestock also contributes to the production of wool, hair, hides, and pelts. Leather is the most important product which has a very high export potential. India is producing about 41.5 million Kg of wool per annum during 2017-18.

3. Draft: Bullocks are the back bone of Indian agriculture. Despite lot of advancements in the use of mechanical power in Indian agricultural operations, the Indian farmer especially in rural areas still depend upon bullocks for various agricultural operations. The bullocks are saving a lot on fuel which is a necessary input for using mechanical power like tractors, combine harvesters etc. Pack animals like camels, horses, donkeys, ponies, mules etc are being extensively used to transport goods in different parts of the country in addition to bullocks. In situations like hilly terrains mules and ponies serve as the only alternative to transport goods. Similarly, the army has to depend upon these animals to transport various items in high areas of high altitude.

4. Dung and other animal waste materials: Dung and other animal wastes serve as very good farm yard manure and the value of it is worth several crores of rupees. In addition it is also used as fuel (bio gas, dung cakes), and for construction as poor man’s cement (dung).

5. Storage: Livestock are considered as 'moving banks' because of their potentiality to dispose off during emergencies. They serve as capital and in cases of landless agricultural labourers many time it is the only capital resource they possess. Livestock serve as an asset and in case of emergencies they serve as guarantee for availing loans from the local sources such as money lenders in the villages.

6. Weed control: Livestock are also used as Biological control of brush, plants and weeds.

7. Cultural: Livestock offer security to the owners and also add to their self esteem especially when they are owning prized animals such as pedigreed bulls, dogs and high yielding cows/ buffaloes etc.

8. Sports / recreation: People also use the animals like cocks, rams, bulls etc for competition and sports. Despite ban on these animal competitions the cock fights, ram fights and bull fights (jalli kattu) are quite common during festive seasons.

9. Companion animals: Dogs are known for their faithfulness and are being used as companions since time immemorial. When the nuclear families are increasing in number and the old parents are forced to lead solitary life the dogs, cats are providing the needed company to the latter thus making them lead a comfortable life.

Role of livestock in farmers’ economy

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.

1 Income: Livestock is a source of subsidiary income for many families in India especially the resource poor who maintain few heads of animals. Cows and buffaloes if in milk will provide regular income to the livestock farmers through sale of milk. Animals like sheep and goat serve as sources of income during emergencies to meet exigencies like marriages, treatment of sick persons, children education, repair of houses etc. The animals also serve as moving banks and assets which provide economic security to the owners.

2. Employment: A large number of people in India being less literate and unskilled depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods. But agriculture being seasonal in nature could provide employment for a maximum of 180 days in a year. The landless and less land people depend upon livestock for utilizing their labour during lean agricultural season.

3. Food: The livestock products such as milk, meat and eggs are an important source of animal protein to the members of the livestock owners. The per capita availability of milk is around 375 g / day; eggs is 74 / annum during 2017-18.

4. Social security: The animals offer 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 in different parts of the country. Rearing of animals is a part of the Indian culture. Animals are used for various socio religious functions. Cows for house warming ceremonies; rams, bucks and chicken for sacrifice during festive seasons;   Bulls and Cows are worshipped during various religious functions. Many owners develop attachment to their animals.

5. 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.

6. 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).

SOME REPORT

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. 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.

3.  Driven by the structural changes in agriculture and food consumption patterns, the utility of livestock has been undergoing a steady transformation. The non-food functions of livestock are becoming weaker. Importance of livestock as source of ‘draught power’ has declined considerably due to mechanization of agricultural operations and declining farm size. Use of dung manure is increasingly being replaced by chemical fertilizers. On the other hand, their importance as a source of quality food has increased. Sustained income and economic growth, a fast-growing urban population, burgeoning middleincome class, changing lifestyles, increasing proportion of women in workforce, improvements in transportation and storage practices and rise of supermarkets especially in cities and towns are fuelling rapid increases in consumption of animal food products. Between 1983 and 2004, the share of animal products in the total food expenditure increased from 21.8% to 25.0% in urban areas and from 16.1% to 21.4% in rural areas.

4. Despite significant increases in livestock production, per capita consumption of milk (69 kg) and meat (3.7 kg) in 2007 has been much lower against corresponding world averages of 85 and 40 kg2 .

5.  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 12th 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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%).

9. The agricultural sector engages about 57% of the total working population and about 73% of the rural labour force. Livestock employed 8.8% of the agricultural work force albeit it varied widely from 3% in North-Eastern states to 40-48% in Punjab and Haryana. 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 the livestock sector is around 90% in Punjab and Haryana where dairying is a prominent activity and animals are stallfed.

10 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 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. 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.

11. The growth in milk production decelerated from 4.4% during 1990s to 3.9% during 2000s. There remains a huge gap between the potential and the realized yields in Indian livestock. Only 27-75% of the dairy animal potential yield is realized in different regions of the country5 because of constraints related to feeding, breeding, health and management. Output worth Rs 283 billion (at 2003 prices), which was equivalent to 25% of the value of milk produced in 2002, was lost due to these constraints. Feed and fodder scarcity is identified as the most limiting constraint accounting for half of the total loss, followed by problems in breeding and reproduction (21%) and in health (18%).

12. 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 slaughter houses. Marketing and transaction costs of livestock products are high taking 15-20% of the sale price .

13. The extent to which the pro-poor potential of livestock can be harnessed would depend on how technology, institutions, policies and financial support address the constraints of the sector. The number-driven growth in livestock production may not sustain in the long run due to its increasing stress on the limited natural resources. The future growth has to come from improvements in technology and service delivery systems leading to accelerated productivity, processing and marketing.

Average Yield Rate for Milk from Breeds

The average yield of milk per day per animal in milk at National level from different species during 2017-18 is given below.