Dairying is a fillip to farmers during and post COVID-19 pandemic
By: K Sriramamurthy
Tags: Covid 19, Farmers, Farming, Agriculture, Dairy

Dairying is an important tool in the hands of farmers to sustain during natural calamities and equally so during current pandemic situations. A recent announcement of allocation of Rs 15,000 crores towards animal husbandry by Government is a step in right direction. With an extensive infrastructure created by the Government during Operation Flood for milk production, procurement ,processing and distribution, per capita consumption of milk in India stands at 375 g per day ,supplying approximately 14g protein per day. This itself speaks volumes about the progress achieved in dairy sector embodying the efforts of ICAR, Animal Husbandry departments of Central and State Governments and State Agricultural Universities. Farmers who toil hard in Agricultural fields for crop production are not necessarily rewarded proportional to crop yield. Rising price of milk fat paid to dairy farmers consistently over the past years is a glaring example of how Cooperative dairy industry helped farmers float through tough times. Organized dairy sector is currently paying price in the range of 10–15% over the base price of 2016,even during flush season, though the prices of other agricultural commodities fluctuated greatly.

In rural India, a small farmer or a marginal farmer or a landless labourer owns a cow producing 5 litres of milk and a buffalo producing 8 litres of milk, respectively. At the current prevailing prices , after keeping for domestic consumption one litre of cow milk his gross income will be Rs 122 (4.5% fat )for cow milk and Rs 435 (8.0% fat) for buffalo milk. Assuming that he spends 50% of this on feed and fodder, his net income will be Rs 278 per day. Besides he and his family is consuming 40 g animal protein from cow milk per day. If the farmer can add one or two more milch animals to his existing stock, economic benefits will no doubt be significant.

Current COVID-19 virus pandemic intermingled with financial pandemic has exhausted both the physical and financial resources at every stratum of society. It is necessary that every farmer should have a secondary income to supplement in the need of this hour. To strengthen the hands of farmers at village level (Do Not forget our villages almost free of Carona pandemic during Lockdown-I and II), let us revisit some issues concerning dairy husbandry sector.

Availability of good dairy animals to replace low producing animals with farmers in rural areas is an area of concern. Of course this issue attracted the attention of Indian Council of Agriculture Research long back. Through different All India Coordinated Research Projects , breed improvement in Indigenous cows and buffaloes initiated by ICAR is on the right track with more than 20% average increase in milk production in many of the indigenous breeds in second generation of animals. However, the coverage is limited to operational areas. Superior male germplasm is available for breed improvement with different government agencies for extensive use in the field. Farmers prefer high yielding animals (>15 litres milk per day) and the availability is limited. Breed improvement in dairy animals is a lengthy process and it takes at least 15- 20 years to achieve visible results. Use of Sexed semen doses from proven bulls with high conception rate are also supplied by agencies such as Gujarat Livestock Development Board and it is necessary to ensure the reach of this valuable genetic material to small and medium farmers and landless labourer. Though superior quality frozen semen(unsexed) available in the country, its spread is about 35–40% only. Dairy cattle breeding programmes should be totally monitored by Animal Husbandry departments to achieve higher success rate in improving genetic resources.

Farmers choice today is indigenous dairy breeds like Gir, Sahiwal and dual purpose breeds like Kankrej and these breeds should receive further attention for wider spread in the country.

Buffaloes contribute 55% of milk to the dairy industry they are hardy, produce more milk than cows and utilize low quality fibrous crop residues more efficiently than cows. Urban dairy industry is totally centred on buffaloes. Network Project on buffaloes sponsored by ICAR, has done praise worthy work with regard to indigenous buffaloes, especially Murrah, Nili-Ravi and Jafrabadi in terms of breed improvement as well as milk production potential.

Some entrepreneurial dairy farmers are marketing organic indigenous cow milk produced by A-2 allele containing Gir cows by creating niche markets in metro cities at a price of Rs 120–180 per litre. Such efforts should be encouraged and embody more dairy farmers.

Feed and fodder farms 50–60% of cost of milk production . Nutritious balanced quality feed is available through cooperative dairy sector . However , the reach limited to cooperative dairy sector. Dairy farmers are advised to feed such balanced concentrate feed , instead of individual feed ingredients which ultimately prove to be costly from production point of view. Practice of feeding Total Mixed Rations(TMR- Mix of concentrate and roughage ) which reduce methane emission in dairy animals need to be adopted by dairy farmers.

Green fodder production which is a critical factor in reducing the cost of milk production is always side lined. Strategies should be formulated , such that some of the gauchar land in villages be used for cultivation of fodder crops on cooperative basis and sold to needy small farmers and landless labourers.

Establishment of dry fodder banks at village level should be encouraged . Various crop residues such as wheat straw /rice straw ,instead of being burnt , may be used as cattle forage for feeding during lean season. Forest dry grasses which are harvested annually and stored need to be suppled to farmers during the year of harvest.

Government of Gujarat has announced an assistance of Rs 900/- for maintenance of indigenous cow under natural farming system subject to maximum ceiling of Rs 10000/- per year. For preparation of Jeevamruth under natural farming , 75% subsidy also was announced to cover the cost of Jeevamruth Kit. Dairy farmers engaged in Natural farming of dairying may avail this Government assistance.

In the present and post COVID-19 scenario, commercial dairy units with above 100 cows , individually or on cooperative basis , need to be encouraged for generation of employment and creation of wealth. Liberal financing to such units is a welcome step in right direction. This may encourage reverse migration from urban / semi urban areas to rural areas.

Let us take care of Kamdhenu and Kamdhenu will take care of us.

( Dr.k.S.Murthy, Research Scientist(Retd.), Cattle Breeding Farm, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh,Gujarat)