Animal husbandry: Success and constraints

Animal husbandry, rather than crop cultivation, is emerging as a reliable source of livelihood and income for farmers. One reason is the growing threat to crops from climate change-driven weather uncertainties and other hazards. Animal farming can hedge these risks to a significant extent. Besides, the demand for animal products, such as milk, meat, and eggs, is growing faster than plant-based foods, thanks to rising income and changing food habits. This has made livestock husbandry more lucrative than crop farming. The long-term growth trajectories of the crops and livestock sectors bear this out. While the average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of crop production (at constant prices) has plummeted from 3.0 per cent in the 1950s to 1.5 per cent in the last decade, that of livestock has shot up from 3.0 per cent to nearly 7.5 per cent. The share of crops in agriculture and its allied sectors’ gross value added (GVA) has also been decreasing steadily. In the past decade alone, it shrank from 65.4 per cent to 55.1 per cent. The share of livestock products, on the other hand, has surged from about 20 per cent in 2011-12 to 30.1 per cent in 2020-21. If this trend continues, which seems almost certain, livestock husbandry would replace crop farming as the mainstay of the farm business, instead of being merely a source of supplementary income. Even today, small and marginal farmers and landless people, comprising over 85 per cent of the rural population, rely substantially on livestock for their subsistence. The milk industry alone supports some 80 million 

dairy farmers.
 

Unsurprisingly, India now leads the world in milk production. In fact, it replaced the US as the world’s largest milk producer way back in 1998. Its milk output of 221 million tonnes in 2021-22 accounted for nearly 23 per cent of global milk supplies. Per capita milk availability in India, about 444 grams per day, is far higher than the global average of 394 grams. In fact, milk is now the country’s largest agricultural commodity, surpassing rice and wheat in terms of both volumes and value of production.

The white revolution, which is milk-based, is, indeed, not the only success story in the animal husbandry sector. The poultry industry, too, has clocked a CAGR of over 6 per cent. The output of eggs in 2020-21 was estimated at 130 billion, amounting to a per capita availability of around 95 eggs per year. Showing similar robust growth, meat production touched a record 9.29 million tonnes in 2021-22. Significantly, the export of animal products has also been looking up. According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India shipped out livestock products worth over Rs 32,597 crore in 2022-23. The meat of buffaloes, sheep, and goats, besides poultry and dairy products, is the major export item. Buffalo meat alone accounted for nearly two-thirds of the export of animal products.
 

Interestingly, the animal husbandry sector has scaled these heights largely with private investment. The bulk of the agricultural subsidies by the central and state governments has gone to the crops sector. In the 2023-24 Union Budget, too, while well over Rs 4 trillion has been set apart for food, fertiliser, and other agricultural subsidies, the allocation for the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying is merely Rs 4,328 crore. Moreover, animal products do not enjoy the kind of price and marketing support that many crop-based commodities do by way of minimum support price and official procurement.

What is generally not fully appreciated is the role animal husbandry plays in ensuring household-level food and income security. Even when crops fail, due to adverse weather or other reasons, animals continue to provide food and income through milk, eggs, wool, or meat. Under the worst circumstances, even live animals can be sold to generate cash. Besides, bullocks have traditionally been used as a source of draught power for farm operations and transportation. Little wonder, therefore, that the possession of farm animals is one of the key determinants of the socio-economic status of rural households. Animals are also given as gifts in marriages.
 

However, this sector faces some formidable constraints as well. The most significant among them is the shortage and, consequentially, high cost of feed and fodder. While natural pastures and common grazing grounds are either vanishing or shrinking in size due to encroachments and degradation of their vegetative cover, the prices of cultivated fodders are spiralling. The Jhansi-based Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute estimates the deficit of green fodder, dry fodder, and the grains-based concentrated animal feeds to be as high as 12 per cent, 23 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. If this issue remains unaddressed, the growth of the animal husbandry sector might suffer to the detriment of all stakeholders, including the livestock-keepers and the consumers of animal products.

 surinder.sud@gmail.com