Livestock Sector in India:
The livestock plays a significant role in the economy of India. Wide range of products obtained from livestock sector include milk, eggs, various type of meats and animal skins etc. The Indian Livestock market has been reported to be value of more than 900 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow of more than 6% during 2021-2026. India is the largest producers of milk and buffalo meat where as it is number 3 in egg production in the world. India is also exporting poultry products mainly to middle east and also to European countries. Demand for various livestock based products is increasing significantly due to increase in income, urbanization, taste, preference and increased awareness about food nutrition.
Feed Requirement by Livestock Sector:
The feed is one of the main drivers of livestock production, in addition to good animal breed and maintaining animal health. Feed account doe up to 70 percent of the total cost of the livestock. The growing market at both global and national level has propelled the growth of livestock sector in India. The demand for feed for poultry sector was 28.4 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) in 2019 and by 2025 it is expected to be 30.8 MMT. It has been estimated that the value of Indian animal feed market was Rs. 874 billion in 2021 and expected to grow at the rate of 9.6% in next five years with estimated value of 1500 Billion.
The exponential growth is resulting in shortage of supply of fed ingredients and increase in pricing. Add to this relatively slow growth in agriculture is affecting the livestock sector. The production of Maize and Soybean has not been commensurate to the demand of poultry industry.Therefore limited availability has led to escalation in the cost of feed, and consequently the cost of eggs and poultry meat. This has also affected competitiveness of the Indian Poultry sector in the international market.
Ongoing challenges with respect to land degradation and climate change along with food feed competition present significant challenges for livestock sector especially against the backdrop of increasing animal source food consumption.
Source: (Workshop on Feed requirement for livestock sector- Challenges and opportunities)
