Harnessing Potential of Livestock Sector for Food Safety And Financial Security

India has been a predominantly an agrarian economy since time immemorial. The developmental efforts over the last few decades have been doubtlessly strengthened our industrial base. However, agriculture continues to be the mainstay of our economy even today. In India, keeping milch animals has been never a separate occupation from agriculture. Thus, rural economy is closely tied up with milch animals. Dairying plays a crucial role in the economy of our country. It helps in augmenting food supply, generating employment and raising nutritional level. It is a major source of income to the small and marginal farmers. The major advantage of dairy farming is its minimum land dependency and resource flexibility. Global consumption, production, and trade of livestock products have increased rapidly in the last two decades and are expected to continue. At the same time, safety concerns regarding human and animal disease associated with livestock products are increasing. Dairy is the single largest agricultural commodity contributing 5 per cent of the national economy and employing more than 8 crore farmers directly. India is ranked 1st in milk production contributing 23 per cent of global milk production. Milk production in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 6.2 per cent to reach 209.96 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 146.31 million tonnes in 2014-15. According to FAOSTAT production data (2020), India ranks 3rd in Egg Production and 8th in meat production in the world. Egg production in the country has increased from 78.48 billion in 2014-15 to 122.11 billion Nos. in 2020-21 (Provisional). The per capita availability of egg is at 91 eggs per annum in 2020-21 (Provisional). Meat production in the country has increased from 6.69 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 8.80 million tonnes in 2020-21 (Provisional)