DAIRYING ACTIVITY SHOULD CONTINUE TO GET PRIORITY DURING PANDEMIC TIMES

 

DAIRYING ACTIVITY SHOULD CONTINUE TO GET

 PRIORITY DURING PANDEMIC TIMES

 

The onset of Covid-19 pandemic starting from December 2019 at Wuhan in China, now a 2-years long stretch already, has shaken the world never before, the way it has done during this viral attack.

The strongest economies of the World, call it USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan, China or any other, have got the beating and have not been able to come to terms, and the normalcy even in their situation is not at sight in the near future. The Indian economy is no exception. The back bone of the economy is quite shaken under the pressure of the pandemic, it goes without saying.

Still the dominant Agrarian and Rural colour of the Indian Economy and its dependence on Agricultural or Dairy Sector has been pulling the Indian Economy with certain respects globally; and in the absence of these dominant sectors in India, it would have been nowhere, it would have been extremely difficult to sustain and even feed the huge 1.30 billion population of India; given the Covid-19 pandemic has been persisting in some name or other, in wave after waves, in variants after variant and does not want to leave the world to its normal peace and vigour so easily.

After the first wave of Covid-19 in 2019 and 2020; the second wave ruled in 2021 across the world again, giving severe blow to the economies and the economic activities worldwide. After that, the stronger and dangerous, those mutated variants of Covid-19 in the names such as Delta-Variant and now Omicron have  come to the world and the nations are struggling again to cope with its pressure and the anticipated panic it still generates globally. The more and longer, this viral pandemic is persisting, it is more depressing the economies and the economic activities around the world; it is an undisputable fact, as the authorities all around are again pressing the panic button and taking restrictive measures with the objective to contain the spread of the new variants of the Covid Virus. All measures to arrest the spread of the viral pandemic, in fact, amounts to axing the economic activities, that cannot be denied by any standards, it goes without saying.

During the said pandemic, across the globe, the 3-Sectors that have sustained momentum are Agriculture, Dairy and Health Sector, any other sector or other sectors are not excluded, however those cannot be said if  not affected. Although Dairying is considered as an Allied-Agricultural activity, for a moment I am separating from core-Agriculture as the nature and activities of Dairying are somewhat different from the Cropping and Cultivation Activities of Core-Agriculture. Both Agriculture and Dairy have sustained during the pandemic to feed the Global Population. The Health Sector has sustained to protect the Humanity by saving the lives from the clutches of the viral attack, to the best possible extent. It holds very true for India without exception.

All kinds of data have been available in the public domain for consumption  of anybody of public and all of that are not being brought in here into this article, baring minimum, in order to avoid pushing the readers into the number jungle that could suppress the underlying vital issue intended to be highlighted.

During Covid-19, on estimate basis, about 40 Crore (400million) Informal Workers ( labour ) in India got pushed into shear unemployment crisis. In fact, the International Labour Organization ( ILO ) an arm of the United Nations Organizations ( UNO ), had also estimated this figure.

Agriculture sustained during Covid-19, as about 70% of the Rural Households in India are dependent on Agriculture and they found it is the activity they could do independently without being dependent on any dictating masters. Agriculture had to sustain and keep working during the pandemic, as the world, India included, realized the truth that feeding the population is the bare necessity to survive out of the pandemic. The demand for food was inevitable. The industrial labour, the formal workers and the informal and the floating labour that  got into an unprecedented unemployment crisis; they returned to the rural areas and the villages of India and tried to get engaged in agriculture in the rural or quasi-urban areas, as agriculture is the barrier-less and boundaryless activity where any amount of labour can be absorbed in India and nobody can prevent for the labor to get engaged in Agriculture. The all kinds of labour that returned to the rural hinterland from the cities and urban areas to find placement, got engaged in the Agriculture and its allied activities, that ensured the foods for the huge population. The food demand remained and was demanded to be met.

The Health Sector ( the Pharma Sector included in that ), had no choice other than to work hard and in full swing under terrible pressure, because the human lives were at stake for survival out of the viral pandemic and there was no choice before India or the World to take a slack attitude in this scenario in this sector. Starting from hospitals to medical personnel, para-medical personnel, medicines and medical facilities, medical and para-medical utilities and all kinds of activities related to supporting health and wellbeing of the human beings were top priority without choice, the whole effort was to save and maintain lives of humans at any cost, that let the Health Sector as an important sector of the Economy to work in full swing and with over-loading and over-time.

Now coming to the Dairy Sector, it has worked in full swing during the viral pandemic, it is understood, and it has been observed; and it has sustained working remaining almost pandemic neutral. Like core-agriculture, Dairying is an economic activity largely and to the extent of 98% in India, performed in the Rural India and in its villages. Dairying was the other activity, that could absorb also a significant portion of the labor that got into unemployment crisis during the viral pandemic, whether they returned from industrial and formal sectors or informal labour sectors. The activity of dairying has a limitation unlike the activity of agriculture, whereas Agriculture has unlimited potential to absorb labor and expand faster than Dairying.

In case of Agriculture, the potential to absorb labour can be safely said as unlimited as Agriculture is a labour intensive activity and moreover still in India, Agriculture remains largely dependent on manual labour, Indian Agriculture is less mechanized compared to the other larger nations. The Agriculture in India can be expanded easily, one person owns or leads the activity as owner or farmer, and many others can be engaged with him as workers and associates. Expanding agriculture is easy as we do not have land-limitation India at the present times and also a large part of the year remains vacant for the activities of agriculture for various reasons like, seasonal cropping patterns and for want of facilities for cropping during off season, to cite, the facility of irrigation in many areas or climate control facilities like green house, to cite another example; availability of labour is also another reason. Therefore, expanding the agriculture in terms of size of cultivation ( cropping area) and duration of cropping during the year (period of the year) has safe to say, unlimited potential. The Labour that has returned to agriculture during the viral pandemic has got absorbed in agriculture both ways as said, by expansion of size of the cropping area and by expansion of the duration of cropping ( period of the year ) while it is observed that the farmers are now engaged in larger part of the year in cropping activities during the viral pandemic of two years, than they used to be before. Non-cultivated land ( that used to remain idle around some parts of the year or in some cases round of the year ) have been converted to cropped and cultivated land.

In case of Dairy, the limitation is that, it is a cattle or milch-animal dependent activity. The instruments or the means of doing the activity of Dairying are the milch animals, or as they normally called, the cattle. Though Dairying is an economic activity that is also to some extent labour intensive as well, however the labour is engaged in managing the cattle and finally doing milking of the cattle to realize revenue out of it. The activity involves acquiring milch animals (generally minimum of one cow or one buffalo or many cows and buffaloes as a Dairy Farmer can afford to acquire and maintain ), housing them, feeding them, taking care of their health and nutrition regularly and maintaining them in terms of their good health, and finally milking them, that is the production activity and realizing the revenue or economic return out of the sale of the milk. It is a different matter that beyond the Dairy Farmer, the milk goes to be consumed as raw milk or processed milk, or it gets converted into value added dairy products such as milk powders of all kinds, butter, ghee, cheese, curd, butter milk, ice-cream and many other dairy products produced by dairy industries across the world, that are found in the market shelves. Thus, the limitation of Dairying starts from the first step of acquiring and maintaining the Dairy Cattle or Milch Animals. A large dairy farmer can acquire many cows and buffaloes and employ a lot of labour also to manage and handle the activities of his/her dairy farm, it is being done also across the world and in India. However, the engagement of labour in the Dairying is directly proportional to the number of Milch Animals to be managed and maintained by a Dairy Farmer.

During the Covid-19 viral pandemic, in India, it has been observed that the Dairying has not been expanded greatly as it has happened in the case of core-agriculture, however, it has been maintained and it has sustained in full swing to meet the demand for food from the population that the Dairy Sector had to meet to its advantage. The Dairy Sector had to sustain and maintain its level as an economic activity, as it is largely or fully, safe to say to the extent of  98% being done in rural India. It is an independent entrepreneurial activity and independent engagement of labour without any pressure and dictating by any employers masters. The regular and persisting demand from the huge population for the milk as an essential food for nutrition and survival during the viral pandemic and the continued demand for all the value added dairy products as essential part of the food supply system required for the healthy nutrition and survival of the mankind has lead the Dairy Sector get going.

The Dairy Sector could not expand rapidly during the viral pandemic of last 2-years though it has not reduced its status, primarily for the limitation of milch animal acquiring and then its management by funding. Milch animal acquiring requires significant amount of funding now a days. However, the demand and inclination of the Labour to get into the activity of Dairying has increased significantly during the viral pandemic. Because the labour that got displaced from other economic activities found it as an easy route to rehabilitate without much of headache of operations or being dependent on other persons or facilities if they can simply acquire and maintain one or some milch animals and maintain it to milk and sale the milk to earn certain revenue for survival.

Thus, the demand for the milch animals during the viral pandemic has increased by a number of times than the normal times, unfavourably compared to the industrial goods which did  not have such privilege during the pandemic. The market reports indicate that, the Price of a Gir Cow ( India’s own high yielding cow breed ) is presently costing about Rs. 45000/- to Rs. 50000/- . The similar price is also for a Jersey or Holstein Cow, that are the exotic (imported) high yielding breeds of cows adapted now to Indian Climate by cross breeding. Similarly, the price of a Murrah buffalo, the high yielding Indian Breed of buffalo, costs some where in between Rs 65000/- to Rs. 1,30,000/-. A Gir Cow, Jersey or Holstein Cow ( Crossbred with Indian Breeds and adapted to Indian Climate ) and a Murrah Buffalo, all of it can give milk yield of about 8 – 15 litres per day ( further variation possible due to various conditions of the milch animal ). The lactation duration of these cows and murrah buffalo is about 9 months on an average (variation possible depending on the animal health and keeping environmental condition ). The murrah buffalo has a longer duration of lactation compared to other buffalo breeds available in India, hence it is the preferred breed in the market. Maintaining a buffalo is easier as it is a very tolerant and hardy animal for various environmental conditions compared to the said Cows. These facts show that acquiring milch animals for Dairying requires some funding that the Dairy Farmer has to deploy at once.

The labour that got into employment crisis and returned to the villages in the Rural India to survive and rehabilitate themselves independently without being dependent on an employer again, both skilled and unskilled, educated or less educated or uneducated, in fact, intended to get into dairying by acquiring one or more than one milch animals to be maintained in their households. That also increased the demand for milch animals and the prices of the milch animals in the market. The prices of the milch animals had to rise upwards to cope with the demand against a limited supply of the said milch animals which cannot be expanded rapidly without going through the breeding and animal production gestation cycle, that is a biological limitation as well. In dairying, not only acquiring of the milch animal is important, maintaining it with appropriate nutrition, environment and health care is also important to get the right milk yield daily and to get a better and longer lactation duration to realize expected revenue of milk. Also, it is important to keep the animal physically fit to get impregnated on time to give birth to a calf and get into lactation again faster, without much longer break in between two inter-calving periods, that is a situation of catch in dairying. Therefore, funding is a need for investment on milch animals, that cannot be undermined for getting into the activity of Dairying. During the viral pandemic, though there were interests and intentions from the people to get into more of Dairying as economic activity for living, the non-availability of funding by self-route or from institutional funding route, to acquire and maintain the milch animals, and at the same time the limited and immediate supply of milch animals prevented the expansion of Dairy Farming as explained above, otherwise there was scope to do better for the Dairy Sector.

As the entire national resources had to be committed to health sector of the people with the priority of saving and maintaining human lives, possibly the attention to Dairying could not be more than that happened, it is well understood and duly acknowledged as well.

With the pressure of the viral pandemic almost and practically, cutting off every nation from other parts of the world (India could not be exception) for such a long stretch of time, for the supplies both essential and non-essentials, the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ji, gave the call of “Atma Nirvar Bharat“ ( Self Reliant India ). Historically India was a largely self-reliant economy under the British Rule and later post-independence until 1991 when the Indian Economy was opened to Global inter-dependence. The call of “Atma Nirvar Bhart” (Self Reliant India) is consistent with India’s historical economic independence that had for all purposes existed until 1991.

Looking back at the Dairy Sector, India is the largest milk producer among all nations of the in the world today, it would not be wrong to say, today India is by far self-reliant for Milk and Dairy products. The published milk production and per capita availability of milk in India since the financial year 1991-92, as has been available in the website of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) are presented below:

  

MILK PRODUCTION AND PER CAPITA AVAILABILITY OF MILK IN INDIA
YEAR	PRODUCTION (MILLION TONNES)	PER CAPITA AVAILIBILTY (GMS/DAY)
1991-92	55.6	178
1992-93	58.0	182
1993-94	60.6	186
1994-95	63.8	192
1995-96	66.2	195
1996-97	69.1	200
1997-98	72.1	205
1998-99	75.4	210
1999-2000	78.3	214
2000-01	80.6	217
2001-02	84.4	222
2002-03	86.2	224
2003-04	88.1	225
2004-05	92.5	233
2005-06	97.1	241
2006-07	102.6	251
2007-08	107.9	260
2008-09	112.2	266
2009-10	116.4	273
2010-11	121.8	281
2011-12	127.9	290
2012-13	132.4	299
2013-14	137.7	307
2014-15	146.3	322
2015-16	155.5	337
2016-17	165.4	355
2017-18	176.3	375
2018-19	187.7	394
Source: Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics, DAHD&F, GoI Data Credit : The data as appear in NDDB ( National Dairy Development Board ) website : www.nddb.coop in public domain, adapted and placed here for the purpose of illustration.

Going by the above data trend, by estimate, it can be safely said that the milk production in India during the year 2021-22 (financial year) could be about 210 Million Tonnes and per-capita milk availability in 2021-22 could be about 410 grams per day.

The continuous effort of Dairy Development in India since post-independence from 1950s, starting with the “Amul” effort by co-operative route led by Dr. Verghese Kurien ( Dr. V. Kurien ) and in due course through formation of National Dairy Development Board ( NDDB ), Anand (Gujarat) and the massive project of Operation Flood for Dairy Development led by Dr. Kurien stretching over 3-decades starting from 1970s have made India self-sustaining in Milk and Dairy Products and we are no more dependent on milk and dairy products imports that existed prior to 1950s. We are also exporting some milk based and dairy products from India, though it is small in quantity and value right now, we also have a future coming up ahead; for exporting the Milk and Dairy Products to other parts of the world, as it is expected that the Dairy market space may get vacated significantly in the other parts of the world in future to come, especially in the developed countries due to various relevant reasons. When we see more vacant market space around the globe, we should be also ready to fetch those market demands by exporting our Milk and Dairy products from India for our National Benefit.

In concluding note of this article, it can be said that Dairy Development Activity should be considered in Priority Approach in India, by whatever breathers are available and that has not been possible during the tough times of the viral pandemic and as at the same time the viral pandemic is being persistent in various forms and we need to keep our Economic Back Bone maintained as well in spite of all odds before us. As Dairying can be an activity for future progress of our Economy and to make our readiness to be available for our required and expected entry to the possible vacant demands for Milk and Dairy Products that are going to appear in the future internationally, we cannot allow a back seat approach for the Dairying Activity in India in our National Interest.

About the Author :

Dr. Nimain Charan Biswal, is a B.Sc.( Agri. Science and Technology ), M.B.A.[PGDRM from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) ] and Ph.D.(Business Management and Administration ) from Gujarat University, Ahmedabad ( under Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad ) by qualifications and he has 36 years of experience till now, in the areas related to Dairy and Industrial Sectors, Agricultural, Agri-industrial in diversified fields of importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, M.B.A. of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Anand, Gujarat and Ph.D. from Gujarat University ( with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad ). Dr. Biswal is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National Dairy Organizations (including Dairy sector at “Amul”- Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited, at very senior capacity) and International Organizations in Senior/Top Management Capacities as the Managing Director, CEO. Dr. Biswal is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in agriculture, dairy, industrial management, development management to management of public systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He lives at Mumbai in India.