12 March 2022 - Raising Cattle, Improving Livelihoods - (E)
Domestication of animals and its related activity of dairy farming, have been integral to the human civilization over the centuries. Nearly 60 percent of India is still dependent on agriculture for sustenance, therefore livestock and dairy farming play a crucial role in its socio-economic well-being - both from a financial perspective as well as for providing nutrition to its population. India has the largest cattle inventory in the world, estimated at some 305.5 million heads in 2021 accounting for roughly 30% of the whole world's inventory. India, Brazil and China together accounted for roughly 65% of the world's cattle inventory in 2021. As a result, India is the leading milk-producing country in the world. Dairy farming in India has evolved in the last 50 years from just an agrarian way of life to a professionally managed industry. However, most of the dairy farmers in India still raise animals at a small scale in traditional ways. But, the productivity of these farmers can be enhanced by using advanced scientific technologies of cattle breeding, nutrition and ethnoveterinary practices, which in turn can increase the productivity of milk and help increase incomes of farmers. So, in this episode we will take a look at Amul's research and development laboratory, where veterinary researchers are working to increase the chances of birth of a female calf by developing sex-sorted semen. The research has proved fruitful as the semen developed by the scientists has achieved over 90% success rate. We will also visit the cattle feed factory, which is providing nutritious and organic cattle feed to the dairy cooperatives as well as manufacturing ethnoveterinary supplements for reducing harmful effects of antibiotics on cattle that reduce productivity. This and much more in this episode of Science for a Self-Reliant India, only on India science.
