What are the challenges of dairy sector in India? Describe the contribution of bovine population.

Challenges of the Dairy Sector in India

Despite its significant achievements, the Indian dairy sector faces several deep-rooted and emerging challenges that impede its efficiency, productivity, and profitability. These can be broadly categorized as follows:

1. Low Productivity and Genetic Potential

• Suboptimal Milk Yield: The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle remains significantly lower than the global average. While productivity of bovines grew by 27.39% between 2014 and 2022, many animals still have low yields.
• Genetic Quality: A large proportion of the bovine population consists of indigenous breeds and non-descript animals with lower genetic potential for milk production compared to exotic or crossbred varieties. Efforts in cross-breeding have seen limited success.
• Late Maturity: Many Indian cattle breeds exhibit late maturity, leading to a longer unproductive period and reduced lifetime productivity.

2. Feed and Fodder Scarcity and Quality

• Demand-Supply Gap: There is a persistent and growing gap between the demand and supply of quality feed and fodder. Increasing urbanization and industrial development reduce grazing areas annually, leading to fodder shortages and increased prices.
• Poor Quality Forage: The available fodder is often of poor nutritional quality, impacting animal health and milk output.
• Unaffordability: Small and marginal farmers often cannot afford high-quality feeds and supplements, leading to inadequate nutrition for their livestock.

3. Animal Health and Disease Management

• Disease Outbreaks: Frequent outbreaks of diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Black Quarter infection, and more recently, Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), lead to significant economic losses due to reduced milk production, mortality, and reproductive problems. The LSD epidemic in 2022 infected over 29.45 lakh cattle and killed 1.55 lakh, severely impacting milk yields.
• Inadequate Veterinary Services: Veterinary healthcare centers are often far from rural areas, and the ratio of veterinary institutions to the cattle population is wide, resulting in insufficient health services, irregular vaccination schedules, and deworming programs.
• Lack of Immunity: Many cattle lack adequate immunity, making them susceptible to various diseases.

4. Infrastructure Deficits

• Cold Chain and Processing: Gaps in cold storage, transportation, and processing facilities lead to significant post-harvest losses and impact the quality of milk and milk products.
• Unorganized Market Systems: A large segment of the dairy sector operates in the informal and unorganized sector, which lacks standardization in quality and quantity, making it difficult to ensure regular flow and quality of milk. This also leads to lower returns for farmers due to middlemen.
• Hygiene and Sanitation: Unsanitary conditions in cattle sheds and milking yards lead to diseases like mastitis and compromise milk quality.

5. Economic and Market Challenges

• Low Remunerative Prices: Dairy farmers often complain about low milk purchase prices paid by companies compared to the final market price, leading to poor returns for producers.
• Rising Input Costs: Fodder and feed costs, often dependent on international prices, consistently form the largest share of dairy production costs.
• Demand-Supply Imbalances: While demand for milk and milk products is growing rapidly due to population growth, urbanization, and changing dietary preferences, production growth has shown a decelerating trend (3.78% in 2023-24), raising concerns about future demand-supply balance.
• Data Deficiency: The informal nature of the sector leads to a lack of comprehensive data on total milk production, wastage, and financial flows, hindering effective policy formulation.

Contribution of Bovine Population to the Indian Dairy Sector

The bovine population, comprising cattle (cows) and buffaloes, forms the backbone of India's dairy sector. Their contribution is multi-faceted and crucial for the country's agricultural economy and rural livelihoods.

1. Primary Source of Milk Production

• Dominant Share: Bovines contribute the overwhelming majority of India's milk production. In 2023-24, buffaloes contributed nearly 45% of total milk output, while crossbred cows, indigenous cows, and exotic cows collectively contributed a significant share (approx. 54.64%). India's 303.76 million bovines are the backbone of dairy production.
• Buffalo Milk Significance: India is the world's largest producer of buffalo milk, which is known for its higher fat content and is preferred for certain dairy products like ghee.
• Resilience of Indigenous Breeds: Indigenous cattle breeds, despite lower individual yields, are well-adapted to local climatic conditions and play a crucial role in household milk security, particularly for small and marginal farmers.

2. Livelihood and Employment Generation

• Rural Employment: The dairy sector, largely dependent on bovines, directly employs more than 8 crore farmers, many of whom are small, marginal farmers, and landless laborers.
• Women Empowerment: Nearly 70% of the workforce in dairy farming consists of women, and about 35% are active in dairy cooperatives, with over 48,000 women-led dairy cooperative societies operating at the village level. Bovine rearing thus serves as a significant source of income and empowerment for rural women.
• Supplementary Income: For millions of rural households, bovine rearing provides a stable and supplementary income, acting as a crucial "bank on hooves" during times of agricultural distress.

3. Support to Agriculture

• Draught Power: Cattle, especially bullocks, historically provide essential draught power for agricultural operations like ploughing, carting, and irrigation, particularly for small farms.
• Manure Production: Bovines are a primary source of organic manure, enriching soil fertility and reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers, contributing to sustainable agriculture.

4. Genetic Improvement and Breed Conservation

• Focus on Productivity Enhancement: Government schemes like the Rashtriya Gokul Mission aim for the genetic upgradation of indigenous bovine breeds through artificial insemination (AI) and scientific breeding practices, leading to increased productivity.
• Conservation of Indigenous Breeds: Efforts are also underway to conserve and propagate valuable indigenous bovine breeds that possess unique adaptive traits.

The interdependence of bovines with the rural economy underscores their critical importance, demanding targeted interventions to address challenges and harness their full potential.