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M R K Murthy & S. Bindu Madhuri
varieties, with high grain and fodder yields, that perform well under existing farmer management regimes and that ‘breed true’ so that they consistently perform well as they are recycled. Animal Breeding Till recently, organized cattle breeding has been within the realm of government. There are 7 Central Cattle Breeding Farms, one Frozen Sperm Production Institute, 4 Herd Registration Units, 5 Poultry Development organizations and one Central Sheep Breeding Farm. Similar organizations exist under the State governments. Semen Banks are more or less the exclusive preserve of the government. 37 of these are in the government sector, while 12 are with National Dairy Development Board, dairy cooperatives and NGOs. NGOs like BAIF have full-fledged research centres and livestock farms for breeding. Poultry breeding is exclusively in the private sector. A phenomenon emerging in recent years is the establishment of large cattle farms in States like Punjab. This trend is likely to get strengthened in future. Animal Resources in Farming Systems Livestock are an important component of the integrated rain fed farming systems of the poor and small marginal farmers as shown below.
Figure 1: Integrated Rain Fed Farming Role of Livestock When compared to the availability of the livestock in India, Andhra Pradesh possess 9.4 million cattle holding 8 th position, 10.7 million buffaloes holding 2 nd position, 21 million sheep holding 1st position, 6.5 million goats occupying 7 th position, 102 million poultry holding 1 st position and half a million pigs holding 8th position in the country. In Andhra Pradesh livestock is contributing annually 7.23% to GSDP, 3.6% through milk with annual production of 7.624 million tonnes, 2 percent through meat with annual production of 0.46 million tonnes, 1.13 percent through eggs with annual production of 16.45 billion eggs and 0.5% through other sources. Meat Processing The Eleventh Plan targeted a GDP growth of 10% per annum for the meat and meat products sector. There are, about 60 meat processing units registered under the Factories Act (CSO, 2010). The revenue generated by the processed meat and poultry meat is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 16.3% during the