Livestock products are integral part of food basket since time immemorial and considered as essential for maintenance of life, growth, production and reproduction due to its high nutritive value. India is a largest producer of livestock products.
Livestock now controls a quarter of the agriculture gross domestic product (GDP). In 2010-11, it generated outputs worth Rs 3,40,500 crore (at current prices). This was 28 per cent of the agriculture GDP and about 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. “The total output from livestock was higher than the value of food grains (Rs 3,15,600 crore) and fruits and vegetables (Rs 2,08,800 crore), and this is going to go up substantially,” estimates V K Taneja, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University in Ludhiana.
On the World’s Dairy map, India proudly stands at highest pedestal. The total milk production is 127.9 million tonnes and the per capita milk availability to an Indian is 290g/day which is more than the World’s average of 284g/day. Though much has been achieved but still we are falling short because of rampant losses due to lack of fragmented cold storage and refrigerated transport, revealed by Dr V.K Taneja.
The White revolution has changed the face of Indian Dairy industry and now we are striving hard for bringing in “The Pink Revolution” which relates to production of meat. Currently India is producing around 6.27 million tons of meat which is 2.21% of the total world’s production. To produce such a large quantity of meat around 103 lakh buffaloes, 478 lakhs goats and 7560 lakhs chicken are slaughtered annually. Along with the edible meat, there is annual production of 7.1 million tones of inedible byproducts, which are neither properly collected nor stored. This not only leads to a financial blow but also generates a potent environmental pollutant. This load is further increased by dead and fallen animals. The non utilization of byproducts has lead to high price of meat in India. There is a dire need to improve the status of meat industry in India, said Dr Manish Kumar Chatli, Professor and Head, Department of Livestock Products Technology, GADVASU.
Livestock products include milk, meat and eggs are of perishable nature. The proper storage and preservation has been an area of concern. There is long way from the Farm to the Fork and it requires hygienic handling and storage of livestock products. Without improving the cold storage facilities, the control of loss of livestock products cannot be realized. The main problem is lower installation capacity and poor power backup in the cold stores which are spread unevenly leading to fragmentation in cold chain. The existing facilities are also not upgraded and there is poor awareness of Good Storage Practices among prominent players. We need to strengthen the post production facilities in our country for proper utilization of livestock products. Today, we are just harnessing the benefits of about less than half of what we produce. So the problem lies in consolidation of what we have and by improving our storage facilities, we can achieve the target of becoming the leader in livestock products.>
