A Holistic Study of Livestock Dynamics and Dairy Trade in India

Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural masses and employs about 8.8 per cent population of India. While dairying alone ensures the livelihood for 70 million farm families. The present study is based on secondary data and the analytic techniques like compound growth rate analysis (CAGR), Cuddy-Della Valle Index (CDVI), coefficient of variation (CV), percentages, averages were used to analyse the data. The total livestock population consisting of cattle, buffalo, Sheep, goat, pig, horse and pony, mules, donkey, camel, mithun and yak in the country was 535.78 million numbers in 2019. Cattle accounted for 37.28 per cent of the total livestock population, for which the highest contribution was from Madhya Pradesh (10.27%), followed by Uttar Pradesh (10.24%) and West Bengal (8.65%). The share of value of milk and milk products in total livestock output is highest. The share of livestock products export in agricultural exports decreased from 8.31% in 2011-12 to 8.37% in 2021-22, and in agricultural GVA from 1.01% to 0.78%, suggesting a slight decline in the importance of livestock product exports. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra emerge as the leading states in livestock products exports, contributing 45.51% and 29.00%, respectively, to the total livestock products exports in 2021-22. The share of value of milk and milk products in total livestock output is highest in India followed by meat (23.13 %), eggs (5.98 %) and milk (5.84 %) and the value of output from livestock sector grew by 5.84 per cent during 2011-12 to 2020-21. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of livestock GVA is 7.63 per cent is much higher than that of agriculture and allied sector (3.64 %). This is a clearly indication of growing importance of livestock sector in the overall agricultural development in the country.