78
S
tate
of
I
ndia
’
s
L
ivelihoods
R
eport
2015
Ensuring sustainability
To sustain livestock development after the
project funding is over and to ensure that
rural families continue to reap the benefits,
livestock service providers are developed
using trained individuals selected by the
community. These service providers offer
services under the supervision of a quali-
fied veterinary surgeon. Another initiative
is the formation of self-help, farmer interest
groups (FIGs) to take up support activities
such as livestock health services, marketing
and feed preparation and so on.
A system of collecting service charge for
breeding services has been put in place since
free services are not valued and payment for
services makes the service provider account-
able for quality. During the project period,
the system of collecting charges enabled a
corpus fund to be created in SHG/interest
groups which manages these funds and
partly uses to procure services.
Key impacts
31
BAIF has developed an in-built mechanism
to periodically compile data on conception
rates and to examine the trend. The data ana-
lysed from four states for ten years uptil 2008
showed that AI per conceptionwas 1.9 to 2.6.
Buffalo conception rate, though, was low in
the initial years. Over five to seven years, it
was almost comparable to that of a cow’s.
Change in herd size and composition
Small sample studies in Maharashtra, UP
and Rajasthan showed an increase in herd
size, especially an increase in the number
of cross-bred cows and a decrease in the
number of non-descript cows.
Change in milk production
Approximate calculations show that cows
that produce 2,000 litres in a lactation period
are profitable. Observations from recorded
data on milk production from three states
were analysed by the BAIF.
InMaharashtra, data onmilk production
for over 20 years among different economic
strata showed that there was a three-fold
increase in milk production of cows belong-
ing to landless and small farmers, whereas
for large farmers, the increase was about 30
per cent. Milk production for all categories
was above 2,000 litres per lactation. The
average increase in milk production per cow
per farmer was more for landless and small
farmers which could be due to better personal
attention paid by them. A study in UP indi-
cates that though the Programme increased
the milk production per family, it was not
as high as in Maharashtra due to lack of
market linkages, low level awareness among
producers and also due to being a newer
initiative. In Karnataka, milk yield of cross-
breds increased substantially and reached an
average of 2,464 litres per lactation.
Another significant aspect was an
improvement in milk consumption per
day per farming family by 1 to 2 litres due
to improvement in the availability of milk.
Change in share of family income
from livestock
Sample-based studies in three states showed
encouraging results. In Maharashtra,
the increase in share of livestock was the
highest for landless families (41 per cent
to 93 per cent) while for small farmers the
increase was 30 per cent to 49 per cent. A
major contributor to the income was milk
(60 per cent to 67 per cent), followed by sale
of animals (30 per cent to 35 per cent) and
manure (3 per cent to 5 per cent).
During 2013–14, BAIF directly spent
`
0.7
billion for its various programmes. Out of
this, 72 per cent was spent on livestock, 6
per cent on wadi, 1 per cent on watershed
development and 21 per cent on other
activities related to training etc. Out of the
above mentioned amount, 60 per cent was
received fromgovernment, 15 per cent from
international donor agencies, 10 per cent
from corporate houses, 11 per cent was con-
tributed by the communities and 4 per cent
was mobilised from BAIF also.
32
31
TheMilkyWay: BAIFWay of Dairy Development,
BAIF Development Research Foundation, 2012.
32
Annual Report 2013–14, BAIF, 2014; BAIF, Pune.
