LIVESTOCK: A DRIVING FORCE OF FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

N. MALLIKARJUNA SWAMY¹, B. GURURAJ²*, RAMESH^3
1Department Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560065, India
²Department Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560065, India
³Cost of Cultivation Scheme, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 5600653, India
* Corresponding Author : vurguru026@gmail.com

Received : 24-04-2018     Accepted : 09-05-2018     Published : 15-05-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 9       Pages : 5937 - 5939
Int J Agr Sci 10.9 (2018):5937-5939

Keywords : Livestock, food and nutrition, methane, externalities, poverty, feed conversion ratio
Academic Editor : Naqvi Nikhat
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author thankful to University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India
Author Contribution : Author Contributions: All

Livestock is an important constituent of the Indian economy in general and particularly that of agricultural sector. In rural India where over 15–20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood. The present paper deals about benefaction of livestock with respect food and nutritional security, income and employment and poverty reduction etc., India is the largest milk producer in the World it accounts for 146 million tons and per capita milk consumption increased by 303 to 351 grams per day in 2016-17.They contributed about 16 percent to their income, more so in states like Gujarat (24.4 %), Haryana (24.2 %), Punjab (20.2 %) and Bihar (18.7 %).The regression results shows inverse relationship exist between the livestock GDP, Agricultural GDP and Poverty Ratio. Furthermore, the positive environmental externalities associated with livestock includes saving of chemical fertilizers due to use of dung as manure and prevention of carbon dioxide emission due to use of animal energy in agriculture. Despite of this, negative externalities they cause to environment through emission of greenhouse gases, overgrazing/deforestation and water pollution. Improving the efficiency of livestock production through breeding aspects and improving feed conversion ratio in developing countries, can double livestock productivity while having its adverse environmental impacts since livestock have been singled out as one of the largest sources of methane emission after rice.

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