Current status of Livestock sector in India
India is an agrarian country and a large portion of rural population depends on agriculture and animal health sector. Livestock population of our country is approximately 536 million (Livestock census, GOI, 2019) which is highest in world and a large number of population depend on livestock for their income and livelihood. Livestock sector contribute 4.5% of GDP and 25.6% of the agriculture and allied sector. India holds good positions in world as the major producer of milk, second largest exporter of beef, third largest producers of egg, etc. These are our strengths as a nation, whereas still there are some loopholes indicated by the rate of growth in the Livestock sector in past few decades. Compared to the population of livestock and the percentage of human population engaged in agriculture and livestock farming in our country, growth and productivity is still unsatisfactory as compared to the developed countries. So there is a need to focus on our strengths and weakness to work on them, respectively. This article will briefly explain some of the important points of current livestock sector of India, its strengths and weaknesses, and impact of animal diseases in economy.
Government’s role
Under the Department of animal Husbandry and Dairying (DADF), National Livestock Mission (NLM) was started in 2014-15 to support different projects and plans for sustainable development of livestock (http://dahd.nic.in). The research and development department of the country contributes fairly by developing diagnostics, vaccines and studying the epidemiology giving the prevalence of diseases every year. There are systems like Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases (ASCAD), National Animal Disease Reporting System (NADRS), Establishment and strengthening of existing Veterinary Hospitals and Dispensaries (ESVHD), etc for managing the government policies and services. Whereas, when it comes to practically visualize the reach of these systems and the status of livestock and farmers at grass root level, some weak spots are still present.
There is a need to establish a fine network to link each and every farmer of the country including the one from the remote villages, to ensure reach of every service to grass root level. The formation of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 2019 has surely promised lots of improvements and more focused steps towards the progress of livestock sector.
Prevalence of Animal diseases and their effect
The prevalence of a number of diseases like Peste-des-petits ruminant (PPR), Foot and mouth disease (FMD), Brucella, Classical swine fever (CSF), Black quarter, Anthrax, Haemorrhagic septicaemia, Ranikhet disease, etc results every year into direct loss to farmers and the livestock sector. There are many factors responsible for inability to manage and control the disease and consequent losses. Lack of active reporting of disease by the farmers, on-site diagnostic tests and proper management of disease are some of the important factors.
Under DADF, centrally sponsored Livestock heath and disease control scheme, National animal disease control programme for FMD and Brucellosis are functional to control the diseases by mass vaccination and active surveillance.
At present PPR is considered as an important trans-boundary disease (TAD) and FAO and OIE have jointly initiated the “PPR global control and eradication strategy” in 2013 to mark the disease as priority and to be eradicated by 2030 (http://www.fao.org). Similarly, FMD is another target for eradication and has been controlled in many countries with effective sero-surveillance system, diagnostics and vaccine. Apart from these, national action plan for other important diseases like African swine fever, Glanders and avian Influenza are functional in various parts of country. Management of animal disease is the key step towards optimum livestock health and productive.
Strengths and weakness
The success of states like Punjab and Haryana in the field of agriculture and livestock has set up an example for other states. These states include enthusiastic and aware farmers, favorable environmental conditions, good breeds, healthy livestock and most importantly active involvement of the state veterinary services. India is a diverse country with a range of climatic condition in different geographical regions. Extreme cold temperatures in hilly states like Uttarakhand, Himanchal Pradesh, Kashmir to humid and hot states like Rajasthan, jaipur, South states presents varied conditions. This variation poses difference in adaptation and survival patterns of the livestock breeds resulting into varied productivity from the states.
So there are many factors which contribute to overall success of livestock health department. The areas like genetics, nutrition, field diagnostics and vaccines should be the prime focus of state livestock development boards for improving animal health. Above these, the awareness and acceptability in farmers towards new services is another concern. India is a country of superstitions and old culture beliefs, where farmers from most remote villages believe in their conventional methods and traditions more, than in science and government. In some of the places, the workers lack dedication towards their work unfortunately, whereas in many a places farmer’s resistance to adopt new technologies and advancements brings down the enthusiasm of workers. And this is unfortunate that a major portion of people engaged in agriculture and livestock business in our country are illiterate and unaware. Last decade has increased the use of technology in all the fields including the mobile applications for livestock farmers, but still the point of including all the farmers remain in same place.
Conclusion
As a developing nation, prime focus should be stabilizing the core of livestock sector i.e animal health. There is a need for few changes and motivation in each step of whole system for increasing the contribution of livestock sector to GDP. State veterinary development boards have veterinary services and artificial insemination facilities, and now there is a time to upgrade the veterinary services to a more systematized platform. Disease diagnosis laboratories needs up-gradation, and epidemiology plus veterinary public health should be the active component of the system with recruitment of the most competent and dedicated employees having understanding in particular area. This system will increase employment in states and country, leading to definite growth of livestock sector. And above all, there is a need of active involvement of youth in agriculture and livestock farming to lift up the progress of our country.
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