April 22, 2013

India releases annual report of animal husbandry department

India's livestock sector contributes 25.6% to total farm sector income as it records good growth in previous years while animal husbandry schemes to be restructured for better focus, efficiency.

Planning and implementation of schemes relating to the livestock sector are likely to get a big boost in the 12th Plan. The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has got approval for INR14,179 crore (10,000,000) (US$2.62 billion) from the Planning Commission under various plan schemes.

In a major restructuring exercise, a number of existing schemes relating to animal husbandry are being subsumed in the National Livestock Mission. A sum of INR2,800 crore (US$517 million) has been proposed under the Mission.

Giving details of the achievements and future plans of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, its Annual Report gives a special focus to effective control of animal diseases. The Department proposes to expand control programmes for major animal diseases such as the foot and mouth disease (FMD). About INR3,114 crore (US$575 million) have been provided in the 12th Plan under a mega scheme for animal diseases‒ the Livestock Health and Disease Control (LH&DC) scheme.

To improve productivity of milk by genetic improvement, the existing schemes relating to development of bovines and dairy development are proposed to be merged to a new schemes of National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy (NPBBD), which will be implemented along with the National Dairy Plan (Phase-1) (NDP-1) launched during 2011-12 as a World Bank assisted scheme. Efforts for conservation of quality indigenous breeds will be strengthened further in the 12th Plan under NDBBD and NDP-1.

In fisheries sector, a major initiative has been taken by Government of India by launching the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) since September 2006, as a special purpose vehicle to achieve sustainable development of the fisheries sector through integration of wide array of activities. NFDP would be strengthened by integrating all schemes relating to fisheries development under it and enhancing investment for the sector.

Highlighting the importance of the livestock sector in the Indian economy, the Annual Report states that the value of output from livestock sector at current prices was about INR459,051 crore (US$85 billion) during 2011-12 which is about 25.6% of the value of output from the agriculture and allied sector. The value of output of milk is IN305,484 crore (US$56 billion) in 2011-12, which is higher than the value of output of paddy and wheat. The value of output from meat group in 2011-12 was INR83,641 crore (US$15 billion). The value of output from eggs and wool group was INR17,803 crore (US$3 billion) and INR318 crore (US$59 million) respectively for 2011-12.

India, the largest producer of milk in the world, is set to produce over 133 million tonnes milk during 2012-13. Several measures have been initiated by the Government to increase the productivity of milch animals, which has resulted in increasing the milk production significantly from the level of 102.6 million tonnes at the end of the 10th Plan (2006-07) to 127.9 million tonnes at the end of the 11th Plan (2011-12).

Poultry development in the country has shown steady progress over the years. Egg production was around 66.45 billion in 2011-12. The poultry meat production is estimated to be about 2.47 million tonnes. The current per capita availability of eggs is around 55 eggs per year. Export of poultry products was currently at around INR457.82 crore (US$85 million) in 2011-12 as per the report of Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority (APEDA).

The meat production has registered a healthy growth from 2.3 million tonnes at the end of 10th Five Year Plan (2006-07) to 5.5 million tonnes at the end of the 11th Five Year Plan (2011-12). The Annual growth rate for meat production in 2011-12 was about 13%.

India is the second largest producer of fish and the second largest producer of fresh water fish in the world. Fish production has increased from 41.57 lakh (100,000) tonnes (24.47 lakh tonnes for marine and 17.10 lakh tonnes for inland fisheries) in 1991-92 to 86.66 lakh tonnes (33.71 lakh tonnes for marine and 52.95 lakh tonnes for inland fisheries) in 2011-12. The value of output from fisheries sector was about INR76,699 crore (US$14 billion) during 2011-12 which is about 4.15% of the value of agricultural and allied sector output.