ANIMAL HUSBANDRY INFORMATION

Livestock sector in Kerala

In Kerala 96 percent of the agricultural holding fall below 1 ha and nearly 94 percent of the livestock population is concentrated in rural areas. As a consequence, 80 percent of the livestock farmers are marginal farmers and agricultural labour household.

As per the 17th Livestock Census, Kerala had 21.22 lakhs of cattle population (1.15%), 0.07 percent of buffaloes, 0.01 percent of sheep, 0.98 percent of goats and 0.57 percent of pig population of the country. Besides Kerala has 2.5 percent of the country’s poultry population. Nearly 82% of the cattle in Kerala are crossbreds.

Kerala never had any recognized cattle breed though there have been varieties like Vechur Cattle. This breed is meant for farmers who otherwise would not keep large crossbred cows and cannot afford sophisticated management practices, but at the same time require milk for home consumption only. Vechoor Cattle can be maintained at zero input system and in a sustainable system with the available land holding. The calendar of cattle breeds published by NBAGR (ICAR) lists Vechur as one of the 30 recognised breeds in India, and listed as one of five breeds including Sahiwal and Red Sindhi as breeds with threatened status.

Contribution of Kerala’s livestock sector to the economy is estimated at Rs. 2,400 crores per annum, which comes to about 1.7% at the national level. As per the Livestock Census of 2003 cattle constituted 61 percent, goat 35 percent, buffalo 2 percent and pig 2 percent of the livestock population in the state. Of the poultry population, 90 percent are fowls, 5.4 percent ducks and 4.6 percent other birds. Of the fowl population, 70 percent are desi fowls and 30 percent are improved varieties.

The species-wise breakup of livestock population in Kerala

The Quinquennial Livestock Census data shows a declining trend in the livestock population in the state since 1996.

While Palakkad district accounted for the highest (12.4%) percentage of cattle population in Kerala, Wayanad showed lowest (4.89%). However, highest number of buffaloes is concentrated in Malappuram (19%). While, Thiruvananthapuram accounts for 12 percent of the goat population. Idukki accounts for the largest pig population (30 percent). At the same time, Malappuram accounts for 13 percent of fowls and Alappuzha for 38 per cent of ducks.

District wise distribution of livestock population during 2003

Fodder availability

The following table shows the projected yawning gap in the availability of green and dry fodder in India. The estimated deficit in 2010 is 63 percent of green fodder and 23.5 percent of dry fodder. These are expected to grow further to 65 percent and 25 percent respectively in 2025. This will be a major constraint in India’s efforts for further developing the animal husbandry sector

Supply and demand of green and dry fodder in India (Estimate 2025) (in million MT)

The condition is much more precarious in Kerala. With the shift in cropping pattern of Kerala, the area under rice has come down by 50 percent over the last two decades leading to drastic reduction in the availability of straw for feeding cattle. It is estimated that the state produces only 60 per cent of the roughage requirement for cattle in Kerala. This is the main constraint for increasing milk production in the state. The potential daily requirement for concentrated cattle feed in Kerala has been estimated at 5372 MT. At present the State has three cattle feed plants functioning at Pattanakkad (300 MT/day capacity), Malampuzha (200 MT/day capacity) Kallettumkara (500 MT/day).

Breeding infrastructure

India has the largest breeding infrastructure in the world with 64 frozen semen bull stations and more than 54000 Artificial Insemination (AI) Centres. Artificial insemination conducted increased from 20 million in 1999-00 to 28 million nos. in 2003-04.

There are 2965 AI centres in Kerala of which 2445 are under the Department of Animal husbandry, while Anand pattern societies have 231 AI centres and voluntary organizations have 252. The number of inseminations done in Kerala during 2004-05 was 11.76 lakh and calvings recorded was 3.57 lakh. Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) is involved in the production and distribution of frozen semen and maintains three bull stations at Mattupetty, Dhoni and Kulathupuzha for the production of crossbred and purebred cattle and buffalo bulls.

Structure of cooperative dairy units

In India, over 11 million farmers are organized into about one lakh primary Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS), forming part of a national milk grid which links milk producers in villages with consumers in more than 700 towns and cities all over the country. DCS across the country is handling about 18 million kg of milk per day. Twenty-two State Federations are affiliated to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The number of Dairy Co-operatives in India is approximately 1.13 lakh of which the southern region accounts for 23 %.
In Kerala there are 3243 dairy co-operatives including 2341 Anand Pattern Cooperation Societies (APCOS) functioning under Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF). Besides there are societies functioning under the Department of Dairy Development Co-operative Sector.  Few societies are also operated by NGOs viz., 4 Societies viz., Malanadu, Nirmalgram, PDDP (Perambra) and PDDP (Kalady) etc.

Processing/ slaughtering facility

In the meat-processing sector, India has 3,600 slaughterhouses, 9 modern abattoirs and 171 meat-processing units licensed under Meat Products Order (MPO). A few modern pork-processing plants are also coming up in the country. There is a large potential for setting up modern slaughter facilities and development of cold chains in the meat and poultry-processing sector.

Employment

Animal husbandry sector in India provides self-employment to millions of households in rural areas. Employment in this sector was 11.0 million in principal status, of which 80% were in rural areas. It also provides 8.0 million employments in subsidiary status. This does not include persons employed in sale, re-processing and transport of animal products at secondary market level, which is quite substantial.
Large manpower is also involved in livestock related activities such as meat and dairy products and beverages, breeding of animals and birds, manufacture of woolens, tanning and dressing of leather, production, processing and preserving meat and meat products, manufacture of dairy products, retail and wholesale trade of livestock products, etc. It also provides substantial employment in sectors related to backward linkages such as animal feed, veterinary aid and medicines, animal insurance etc.

Women and livestock

The rural women play a significant role in animal husbandry and are involved in operations like feeding, breeding, management and health care. In India, women constitute 71 percent of the persons involved in livestock farming. Decisions in livestock production lie with men while those of feeding and milk production, breeding of animal and fodder collection lie with women. In future women will be playing a larger role in value addition and marketing of these items. In the poultry sector, especially in the scheme for promotion of rural poultry, involvement of women is quite high. It serves as a means for supplementary income and livelihood.

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Last updated: 23-8-2006