Dairy Profile in India and Tamil Nadu

Indian Dairy Profile

India is home to the highest number of milk cows of any country, with around 58 million heads as of 2021. The European Union had the second most milk cows worldwide, at over 20.5 million heads. India produces over 187 million tones of milk and is the first among all countries in both production and consumption of milk.

As per the 20th Livestock Census:

• The total milch animals (in-milk and dry) in cows and buffaloes shows an increase of 6.0 % over the previous census.
• The cows population increased by 18.0% over the previous census (2012).
• The Indigenous/Non-descript female cattle population has increased by 10% in 2019 as compared to previous census.
• The population of the total Exotic/Crossbred Cattle has increased by 26.9 % in 2019 as compared to previous census.
• There is a decline of 6 % in the total Indigenous (both descript and non-descript) Cattle population over the previous census.
• The total buffaloes in the country shows an increase of about 1.0% over previous Census. Most of the milk produced in India is domestically consumed, though a small fraction is also exported.

As of 2020, approximately 4.2% of India's Gross Domestic Product was due to dairy production. Milk production in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 6.2 % to reach 209.96 million tones in 2020-21 from 146.31 million tones in 2014-15 . The Indian dairy sector was reported to be growing at 4.9% yearly. In 2021 ,India churned a total of over six million metric tons of butter and it remains the leading Butter producer in the world.

Nearly half of the milk produced in India comes from water Buffaloes, as opposed to cows. In India 35% of total milk is produced by Indigenous Buffaloes,26% by Cross bred Cows, 10% by Non-descript cows and 11% by Non-descript Buffaloes. The predominant genotype in Indian native breeds of cows and buffaloes is described as A2A2, meaning they produce A2 milk.

Indigenous cows produce about 3.73 kilograms of milk per day, compared to 7.61 kilograms for cross-bred cows and 11.48 kilograms per day for exotic cows . The milk of indigenous cows have higher nutritional value and thus their declining population can have long-term health and environmental effects .

Cross-breeding of indigenous breeds with exotic ones has been extensively carried out in India with the intent to improve milk production. A review in 1984 concluded that cross-bred cows were more suitable for high milk production than indigenous cattle or buffaloes. They were also found to be more efficient in converting feed into milk. Subsequent studies in later years came to similar conclusions and noted the impact of cross-breeding on increased production and rural development Cross-breeding also resulted in increased rates of conception, shorter dry period and substantially longer lactation lengths.

Dairy Profile in Tamil Nadu

As per the Livestock census conducted in 2018 – 19, the state of Tamil Nadu had 27.76 lakh cows in milk . The average milk yield from a crossbred cow was 7,I kg and that of indigenous and Non-descript cows was 3.0 kg per day. The annual milk production growth rate of Tamil Nadu was above the National average (6.5%) . Per capita availability of milk in Tamil Nadu is 322g as against the National average of 394 g.

Tamil Nadu has many indigenous draught cattle breeds like Kangayam, Bargur Alambadi ,Pulikulam and Umblacherry. These animals are able to sustain scarcity of feed and water. They have low metabolic rate, low disease susceptibility, high nutrient conversion efficiency and low maintenance cost. In absence of high quality indigenous milch cattle breeds, the state depends on crossbred cattle for milk production. In case of buffaloes, Toda and Bargur are the only two indigenous buffalo breeds in Tamil Nadu.

The total milk production in Tamil Nadu has increased at an average annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent during last decade and touched 7 million tones in 2013-14, accounting for 5.3 per cent of the country’s milk production. Cow milk accounted for 90 per cent of milk production and balance was buffalo milk. Within the cow milk basket, the share of crossbred milk to total milk production has increased from 23 per cent in 1992-93 to 80 per cent in 2012-13. Tiruvannamalai district has the highest crossbred cattle milk production followed by Salem and Vellore districts. Higher production of milk has improved the per capita availability of milk in the state from 169 grams/day in 1993-94 to 262 grams/day in 2012-13. In order to support milk production, the government is implementing free cattle distribution scheme since 2011 and often managing fodder depots. On behalf of Tamil Nadu Coop. Milk Producers’ Federation Ltd, the government determines producers price and consumers price of milk. While there is little improvement in productivity of buffaloes during last two decades, the productivity of crossbred animals has gone up considerably from 4.87 kg per day to 6.81 kg per day

 Production potential of livestock in India is very low as compared to livestock in developed world because of poor genetic makeup and poor management and health care. The most important one is inadequacies of feed and fodder resources. Starting from 2020 , in the next 30 years it is predicted that the Crude Protein and Total Digestible Nutrients required for Indian Livestock are to fell short by 20.02 % and 17.13% respectively. However it is projected that the magnitude of deficiency may be declining linearly.

About the Author

Prof Dr M Murugan, Former Dean,Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai. 

Animal Nutrition Specialist with 35+ years of experience in the field of Teaching, Research and Technology transfer to farming communities.  His field of Research is Fodder production with special emphasis to Agroforestry systems and the class of livestock is small ruminant.

Dr. M.Murugan has published 43 Research papers in both National and International Journals. He has also published 45 Popular articles ,authored 5 books and 2 manuals. His  research articles are cited in several text books.

     

He is the member of several Professional bodies like Indian Poultry Science Association  Dairy Technology Society of India , Animal Nutrition Society of India and  Tamil Nadu Veterinary Council.