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LIVESTOCK SECTOR IN BUOYANT MOOD UPON ANOTHER NORMAL MONSOON YEAR
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by Rebecca Sherratt, production editor, Milling and Grain
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74 | October 2018 - Milling and Grain
orecast of yet another normal monsoon year is indeed good news and will help Indian livestock sector in multiple ways”, says B Soundararajan, Chairman of CLFMA of India, the association representing the animal protein industry in India. “The news itself boosts the confidence of the industry stakeholders. What we need to be watchful is the spatial and temporal spread of the monsoon across the country during the Kharif season. Indian agriculture still depends on monsoons as half of the cultivable area is fed by seasonal rains. With a 97 percent normal rainfall, we expect production and thereby availability of feed raw materials such as maize will improve which in turn will make them more affordable too,” he continues. Agriculture is a key industry in India, providing almost 58 percent of the county’s total employment through farming industries and sectors, a drastic difference to the UK’s agriculture industry, which only provides 18 percent of our jobs in total. “Livestock sector is the biggest consumer (nearly 70%) of feed grains such as maize, which are primarily Kharif crops. The animal protein sector certainly benefits from year-round availability of sufficient volumes of good quality feed grains. Hence, we need to ensure not only yield is improved but also storage and distribution of harvested crops” said Soundararajan. Whilst normal monsoons keep the cost of food relatively stable in India, at times of droughts prices soar rapidly, making costs of living ominously high and causing difficulties for many people to afford to eat. If monsoons never reach India, food sometimes has to be imported, heightening the costs even further. Crop failures and deficient rainfall are a big reason behind mass farmer suicides in India, as farmers who do not turn a profit quickly fall into debt and find themselves unable to buy food or afford housing. Despite this, monsoons in India are still a fairly reliable occurrence. The monsoon of South Asia is an annual occurrence that usually takes place throughout June – September, usually beginning by hitting Thiruvananthapuram on the West. This monsoon in particular usually has positive agricultural impacts on multiple locations, including Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It has been so crucial to India’s success that the monsoon has even been dubbed the ‘real finance minister of India.’ Soundararajan went on to say, “we lose about 40 percent of our fresh produce as waste - both on and off farm - which deserves critical and urgent action in terms of investments in infrastructure such as warehouses, cold storage facilities, etc. With the ever-growing population, we can’t remain oblivious to the issue. Recent announcements in the budget 2018-19 on the infrastructure funds for livestock and fisheries sector are great initiatives and CLFMA commends the support and focus by the government on the sector.” “We must promote responsible use of water and other inputs to all the stakeholders in the food chain. Be it crop or livestock production, water must be considered a precious resource” he further added. Soundararajan concluded with an emphasis on the importance of storing and utilisinfg water effectively, noting that such safe precautions are as important as when monsoons arrive. “Our future generations will not have the luxury with regard to water as we or our earlier generations had. As a nation dependent on agriculture, it is imperative for us to focus on improving our water use efficiency through new technologies such as micro irrigation and other relevant innovations.”