Impact of Covid19 on Indian Poultry and Dairy Sector and Role of Vets

Impact of Covid19 on Indian Poultry and Dairy Sector and Role of Vets

Dr. Dinesh T. Bhosale

Regional Sales Director, AB Vista South Asia, Pune, M: +91-9860315558, E: dtbhosale@gmail.com sold as live chicken. There is need to do promotion of poultry farming. Vets can active promotion of chicken and egg play important role in growth of poultry consumption in India. There is need to sector in short term and long term increase share of processed chicken. period. There are many misconception about Vet is the most important person in life eggs and chicken like use of hormones, of Indian farmers. He will have to play antibiotics residues, birds in cages, desi role of three people – Veterinarian, eggs - among consumers. There is need Extension worker and Trainer (VET) for of education of consumers, doctors, betterment of animal husbandry sector. Next 18-24 months will be challenging not only for global economy but also for Indian farmers. Animal husbandry activities brings daily and regular income in life of farmers. It will take time dieticians, chefs, teachers, etc. Associations should come forward for year-long active promotion through activities like cookery shows. Our exports are negligible. We will have to keep our animals healthy as usual. We will have to help our farmers to improve productivity per animal and to reduce cost of production of animal proteins. During to revive consumption of animal As schools were closed, mid-day meals lockdown, only those products could proteins in HORECA segments. So including eggs were stopped. reach urban kitchen where supply chain demand for animal proteins like Government should give eggs to police, was in place. Farmers needs to be milk/products, chicken, mutton, eggs doctors, nurses and other staff of motivated to form Farmer Producer and fish will be lower at least by 30-50% hospitals, Jails, government offices. Companies and to build product wise in short term. Poultry meat and eggs should be supply chains which includes Around five crores population is dependent on poultry farming directly or indirectly. Around 5 million MT of poultry meat was produced last year (85000 crores worth), but per capita consumption is still at 3.4 kg. Around 109 biullion eggs were produced last year (45000 crores worth), but per capita availability is 80 eggs only. Although poultry production is at par with international level and India is number three in egg production and number four in broiler production in the world, it suffered most before and during lockdown period. False messages on social media brought chicken consumption to almost 10% of normal during February 2020. Due to efforts by Government and private sector, it started picking up in second week of March, but again went down during lockdown period due to lack of supply chain and logistics issues. Only 5% of chicken are processed and sold in chilled or frozen form. Rest is served in canteens of companies. There is need of development of ready to eat, ready to cook dishes. Poultry sector should learn from dairy sector about how to do value addition and marketing of products. Placements should be planned as per demand. There should be unity among poultry companies working in particular area. New talent should be attracted towards poultry farming. Veterinary college can play important role of coordination among government and poultry farmers and also in training of poultry farmers. Poultry farmers should develop strong relationship with vets working in Animal Husbandry departments and also with politicians to take up demands with Government. There is need to change syllabus designed by VCI so that students learn more about poultry sector in last year. Industry and college should work with Women self-help groups and farmer producer companies and should help NGOs in procurement of animal proteins, primary or secondary processing to increase shelf life and to do value addition, branding and marketing, logistics etc. so that consumers get product of right quality at right price. Farmers should get maximum share out of rupee spent by consumers. Our population is expected to grow from 1.38 billions to 1.7 billions by 2040. In the early 1970s our milk production was 1/3 of USA and 1/8 of EU. Since 1998, we are number one in milk production. Today our milk production is around 189 MMT which is twice of USA and 25% more than EU. Its'1/5 of the world;s total milk production. Growth rate in India was 4.5 in last two decades whereas, global growth rate was 2%. Remunerative prices and market access were main reasons for this growth. Around 100 million rural households are involved in milk production. Turnover of dairy sector stands at 800,000 crores today. Increase

of every one lakh liter per day provides employment to 5000 households for production and 1000 households for processing and marketing. Recently Government announced 15000 crores animal husbandry infrastructure fund which will increase milk processing capacity from 1200 LLLPD to 1700 LLPD. It will create 30 lakhs jobs. Kisan credit cards and interest subvention schemes will also help dair y farmers. Government also announced 13343 crores fund to implement National Animal Disease Program to eradicate FMD and brucellosis. These diseases reduces production by 10% which is worth of 80000 crores Rs. Farmers share in Consumer Rupee spent will go up as Government has allowed farmers to sell outside APMC, directly to consumers. Milk prices are down by 15-25% due to lockdown. Excess milk is converted into 1200-1500 MT SMP and 500 MT butter every day. Government should can cancel decision to import SMP, as stocks of around 12000 MT of SMP is already lying unsold. In dairy farming, vets should educate farmers on how to buy/sell animals, calf rearing, feeding, loose housing, breeding and improved management practices. This will help to reduce intercalving period. Farmers should be educated about fodder production, conservation in form of silage and hay and ration balancing. Farmers should be motivated to feed balanced cattle feeds instead of feeding raw materials directly. Hydroponics and azolla production should be promoted. Vets should become entrepreneur in field of animal breeding. There is growing demand for desi cow milk. There is need of scientific breeding and grading up of our desi cows and buffaloes. There is need of good quality sexed semen, use of ET and IVF. Cross breeding will continue to increase productivity of our nondescript animals. Vets should start feed mills to manufacture and sell balanced cattle feeds. There is need to promote goat farming and marketing of goat products. It will open new avenue for landless and marginal farmers. Vets should also spend time and money on skill development. They can take help of veterinary colleges, associations like CLFMA of India, PFI and IDA, NDDB, ICAR Institutes and private companies. Both vets and farmers needs to learn many things from consumers. There is need to promote animal protein consumption in rural India as well. Presently production is in rural area whereas most of the consumption happens in Urban India. Young Vets should start startups instead of looking for jobs. Startup India and many private venture capital companies are helping startups in animal husbandry sector. Institutes like NAARM, IVRI and NDRI have started incubation centers for startups. Few examples of startups in animal husbandry sector are Teplu, Shekru, Zoofresh, Humpy A2, Sumbran goat farm, powergotha, Milk Mantra, etc. Vets should make list of success stories in different fields of animal husbandry. He/she should have knowledge about government schemes and should do handholding of farmers to get maximum benefit out of it. This will help weaker section of the society to do profitable animal agriculture. FSSAI has brought out standards for milk and milk products last year. They want to control antibiotic residues and mycotoxins (eg. Aflatoxin) in milk. There is need to promote use of herbal plants to treat common diseases. Farmers should be educated not to sell milk of sick cows where antibiotics are used. Conventional ways of training and social media should be used to reach large number of farmers. Every farmer has smart phone now a days and during lockdown he has learnt how to use social media like youtube, whatsapp and Facebook, etc. Vets should help NGOs working with farmers to improve profitability and productivity of animal husbandry sector. There should be trust among all stakeholders who intends to work with farmers. Zoonotic diseases will play very important role in coming days while selling animal proteins. Farmers and consumers needs to be educated about it. Vets are best people to write and implement various policies of state and central governments. Consumption of animal protein will help to increase immunity of Indian population. There is wrong propaganda by various animal welfare organizations which may affect consumption of animal protein and thereafter profitability of farmers. Vets should educate all stakeholders about it. Vets should spare some time to write articles and print it in various media to reach farmers. So apart from regular duties, vets should spend at least 10 hours every week to help our farmers in next 1824 months to fight bad impact of COVID19 on animal husbandry sector. r