Dynamics of dairy sector in Puducherry

Introduction

In India, over 70 percent of the rural households own livestock and a majority of livestock owning households are small, marginal and landless households. Rural Poverty is largely concentrated among the landless and the marginal households comprising about 70 percent of rural population (Kozel and Parker, 2003) [7] and (Taneja and Birthal, 2004) [11] . Small animals like sheep, goats, pigs and poultry are largely kept by the land scarce poor households for commercial purposes due to their low initial investment and operational costs. Livestock sector acts a main source of proteins for nutritious human diet through supply of milk, eggs and meat. The livestock sector is central to food security, not only for rural smallholders who rely directly on livestock for food, incomes and services, but also for urban consumers, who benefit from affordable high-quality animal-based food (FAO, 2009) [4] . Out of the total output energy in dairy farming 83.83% was contributed by milk and remaining 16.17% was from manure reported by (Divya et al., 2012) [3] . Puducherry, the southern most Union Territory of India consists of four small districts namely Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe respectively. Majority of livestock owners in Puducherry were landless and for majority of them cattle rearing was the only occupation to sustain their livelihood (Ramkumar et al., 2001) [9] . It provides employment and the most valuable supplementary income to the vast majority of rural households, the majority of whom are landless and small and marginal farmers. The dairy farmers were found losing interest and shifting their occupation from dairying as it is no more remunerative to them (Athilakshmy et al., 2013) [2] . Hence realization of importance of dairy population and production is essential which necessitates the study on dairy sector.

Methodology

The data used in this study were collected from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare, Government of Puducherry. The time period considered is for 27 years (1996-2023) The annual compound growth rate (r) was given by r = Anti-ln (b) -1 www.extensionjournal.com 1 shows that, there was a decreasing trend in Indigenous cattle population in the territory over a period of years which needs special concern. This has been happening mostly because of introduction of cross breeding technology in which cross bred animals yield high milk production, greater rate of returns, higher conception rate, early maturity and less inter calving interval than indigenous animals, gradual giving up of animal husbandry practices by the resource poor farmers in the territory and also due to movement of animals to adjoining states. The Annual Compound Growth Rate Analysis has shown that Indigenous cattle population registered negative in Tamil Nadu (Serma et al., 2016) [10] . Similar finding was observed by (Ganesh Kumar and Serma Saravana Pandian, 2003) [5] in which they found that indigenous population was lower when compared to cross-bred cows and buffaloes. [10] .

Results and Discussion

Even though crossbred population show a mixed trend as given in Table 3, they play a vital role in Livestock sector of this territory. The number of Crossbred cattle in found to be higher when compared to other livestock species excluding poultry. Farmers in this territory prefer to rear Crossbred cattle due to following reasons like high milk production, less inter calving interval and early maturity etc., which in turn increases their income when compared with rearing other livestock species. This could be the foremost reason for increase in Crossbred population and also due to extensive cross breeding programme and various development schemes and extension programmes implemented by the Department of Animal Husbandry in the Territory which is a healthy indicator for future dairy development. Similar findings were given by Prabu et al., (2012) [8] . Results on Table 6 revealed that Karaikal (0.11%) and Yanam (8.51%) registered a positive and negative growth rate in the first phase whereas in Puducherry region it is found to be negative in all the phases. In Puducherry region, the buffalo population showed a negative growth rate. The buffalo population is an exception which showed a decreasing trend in the last decade (Annual Administration Report, 2010). The decline in growth of buffalo population might be due to the existence of higher number of cattle over buffaloes over the years in Puducherry, difficulties in breeding management of buffaloes due to existence of silent heat, success of cross breeding in cows which inhibit the dairy farmers to go for buffaloes. Infertility problem is one of the major constraints perceived by farmers in buffalo rearing (Kathiravan and Selvam, 2011) [6] . The sudden hike in population during 2002-2004 as given in [6] . The positive growth rate could be due to the effect of schemes implemented by the Government in the territory which primely focus on multiplication of Cross bred cattle due to its increased productivity. More concern should be given towards improving Indigenous and Buffalo milk production which would enhance to sustain milk production in Puducherry. Table 7-9 indicates the Trend in Milk Production and it was found to be increasing only for Crossbred while a decreasing trend is noticed in Indigenous and Buffalo Milk production in the state. This could be due to increase in crossbred population in the state over a period of years and decrease in Indigenous and Buffalo population. An increasing and decreasing trend is noticed in Crossbred and Indigenous milk production respectively which is mainly due to the increase in productivity in Crossbred cows whereas the productivity tends to be in meager with respect to Indigenous cows (Serma et al., 2016) [10] .

Summary and Conclusion

On the basis of the important findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn and presented here. In the past livestock rearing was considered as the main subsidiary occupation which provided respectable status and income. Many of the landlords reared livestock to help them in agriculture operation in which both livestock rearing and agriculture was complementing each other. But according the present scenario, farmers in Puducherry Union Territory are losing interest in livestock rearing. The main reason for people losing interest in livestock farming is due to uncertainties in production as well as marketing. The second reason would be the availability of jobs in industries and urban areas which fetch them regular and dependable income compared to livestock rearing. The other reasons would be the preference of the people for white collar jobs rather than working with animals.

The projects and schemes implemented in Puducherry did not help in reducing the demand supply gaps. It is an irony the livestock owners are not being benefitted by the ever increasing market potential for all these products. Hence a strong supply response with focus on production, productivity and marketing is required to meet the domestic demand of this territory and also to improve the socio economic status of the livestock farmers. Long term breeding policy, enhancing the availability of quality green fodder to the farmers, streamlining the marketing channels to eliminate the role of middleman which was the foremost constraint perceived by livestock farmers, improving livestock services and proper pricing policy of livestock products would help to improve and sustain livestock population, production and productivity which in turn enhances the nutritional security in the territory.

References

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