Background
Livestock sector plays an important role in rural livelihood, employment and income generation. Major livestock products like milk and milk products, meat and eggs contribute around one-sixth of the calories and one-third of the proteins in the per capita food supplies of the world.
Increase in cost of production reduces the profit margin. Animal husbandry is the second largest economic activity of rural India. In Arid and semi arid regions, livestock sector ranks first in earnings to skilled, semi skilled and unskilled populations. Animal husbandry is a growth engine and annual growth rate in dairying is 5 % and in poultry it is 10% and will alleviate rural poverty and uplift the rural farmer. If the country has to sustain economically, livestock sector has to be strengthened. The availability of per capita animal protein is 10.8g whereas the requirement as per world average is 25g. National sample survey reports that 70-75% of their food budget is for milk and milk products. The need of the hour is increase in production, productivity and improvement in the marketing channel. In the case of failure in agriculture, livestock sector forms the source of income and gives insurance to any intervals of agriculture failure. With regard to production and consumption of milk, it is a golden era in the dairy sector. Organized sector grows more than 10% per annum. Milk production is increasing in Asia and India and increasing prices are favorable to developing countries. International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), Germany reported that India has lowest cost of milk production when compared to developed countries.
Productivity and Quality
According to recent reports 70% of Indian cows and 60% buffaloes have very low productivity. Average milk yield from local cows is about 3 to 3.5liters, of buffalo 3.96 to 5.39liters and of cross bred cow between 5.82 to 7.80 liters per day which is significantly lower than the productivity in developed countries. According to the Economic Survey, productivity in agriculture sector is far below global standards; India has around 300 million numbers of cows and buffalos in dairy production and is the global leader in milk production: about 135 million tones a year. But productivity per cattle is comparatively less. The best run farms in the world produce 1.6 kg of milk for every kg of feed, in India it's less than a kg. Scientific breeding, feeding and management practices along with quality inputs and extension support services are required for achieving better productivity. There exists a wide deficit in the supply of feeds and fodders countrywide. Strategic programmes are required for reaching out among small holder population for facilitating technology transfer and extension support.
Demand-Supply mismatch
Among various livestock products, there exists a huge gap between production and consumption. While buffalo meat is the major item of Indian meat export, accounting for 59%, share of Indian meat in the world market is less than two per cent. Linking quality production of livestock products with lucrative incentives and popularization of traditional products technology can facilitate quantum jump in this industry. Since meat sector provides livelihood to 40 million people, most meats sold in the domestic market needs proper sanitary inspection by the veterinarians. This sector need total restructuring in tune with food safety and standards act 2006 to provide quality meat and meat products to the consumers. Divisibility, value addition and export of meat and meat products need to be strengthened for generating more employment as well as trade benefits. With improved domestic production and marketing efficiency, better access to expanding global market, India has the potential to become more competitive in the export of milk and milk products. Indigenous milk products have great potential which are becoming more popular with the ethnic population spread all over the world. Indian dairy industry needs appropriate production, marketing, trade policy and its periodic revival to keep the pace with the rest of the world and remain competitive to grab opportunities through international trade.
In majority of livestock production enterprises emphasis was given to production aspects like Scientific breeding, feeding, management and disease control but the marketing of the livestock products were not given due attention. When the issue of sustainability in the production of livestock enterprise arises the marketing cannot be treated as a separate entity which is an integral component of the production activity. Livestock products, with the exception of around 18 % of the milk, produced are mainly marketed through unorganized sector which results in non-remunerative price to the producer and unreasonably cost to the consumer. In order to explore the rural market for livestock products, production strategy must be oriented towards marketing of the produce. It should be regulated with local, regional and international market while producing the commodity. Production of traditional livestock products, which fetches good price, should be promoted by exhibiting its inherent strengths and proper branding strategies. Changes in the extension approaches, market forecasting system, value addition, awareness on diseases affecting trade of livestock products, changes in the consumer behavior, production of livestock products based on the demographic characteristics of the population, good manufacturing and retail practices, best production practices and implementation of food safety norms, branding, etc need to be given more importance. One needs to redefine the role of marketing as creating, communicating and delivering value to the consumer. Hence addition of value to the livestock products should be based on consumer needs, taste and preferences like fat free milk for cardiac patients, chocolates for children, quality cheese while considering for international market, etc.
Observations
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