Smita Sirohi

Implementing CDM for the Indian dairy sector: prospects and issues

What is the potential for developing small-scale CDM projects in India to reduce enteric methane emissions from cattle and buffaloes? The issue of baseline setting for prospective CDM projects is a complex one in the Indian context. The baselines constructed on the basis of aggregate emission rates at the national level are unlikely to be precise as methane emission rates are influenced by the livestock and feed characteristics, which vary widely across regions in an agro-climatically diverse country like India. This calls for establishing a project specific baseline underpinned with regional methane emission rates. The various aspects of sustainable development that merit consideration in formulating a CDM project in the Indian dairy sector include; increasing the productivity of animals, increasing the net income of producers, decreasing the cost of milk production and the transfer of safe technologies. The projects in the sector would be able to meet the ‘additionality’ conditions of the CDM. However, there are a number of constraints in implementing the enteric methane mitigation strategies through a CDM project at the field level. The article discusses these technical, financial, socio-cultural and institutional barriers along with possible responses to these constraints.

Opportunities and Challenges for Carbon Trading from Livestock Sector

Livestock are important source of GHG emissions accounting for about 28 % of the global anthropogenic methane emissions. The participation of this sector in the carbon markets is, however, in nascent stage, largely confined to animal waste management projects, although the emissions from enteric fermentation are several times more than that from manure. This chapter discusses the potential of generating carbon credits by improving the feed fermentation efficiency through nutritional interventions such as dietary manipulation and feed additives and increasing the productivity of animals through breeding and other long-term management strategies. There are several socioeconomic, institutional, and technical challenges for the stakeholders in successful formulation and implementation of such mitigation options from the perspective of carbon trading. As the global carbon trading system in one form or the other will be a fixture in the world economy for decades, it is imperative that the uptake of programmatic approaches to project development is increased and standardized approaches to baseline, additionality assessment, and activity-based monitoring methods underpinned by regionally specific field research are developed.

Influence of roughage: Concentrate ratio in the ration and feed prices on profitability of commercial dairy farms

Feed is the major input factor in all livestock production systems. The productivity of livestock is strongly related to the availability of feed resource. Given the scarcity of feeds and fodder in the country and their rising prices, efficient use of feed resources is important. Simulation of changes in feed and fodder prices on project viability of a herd of 100 dairy animals was done. At the prevailing prices of milk and feed inputs, changes in the roughage: concentrate ratio from 60: 40 to 50: 50 in case of commercial dairy herd increased the feed cost by 23–24/animal/d. Increased concentrate in diet was economically viable only if there was a corresponding increase in the milk yield by 660–700 g/animal/d. The profitability of the herd is highly sensitive to prices of concentrate with benefit: cost ratio changes from 1.48 to 1.42 for 10% rise in the prices of concentrate.

Potential Impact of Dairy Cooperatives on Sustainable Milk Production: Evidence from Gujarat, India

Dairying has been a prominent supplementary enterprise and regular source of income to the farmers. Indian dairy sector has progressed commendably well with the seven-fold increase in milk production since independence, but progress in terms of yield per animal is still low which is quite unsustainable. Literature suggests two approaches for productivity growth viz., through technological progress and improved efficiency. The present study is an attempt to determine the factors affecting the technical efficiency of dairy farmers in Gujarat state with a special emphasis on the role of milk cooperatives. Multiple regression analysis and regression tree approach were used for arriving valid conclusions. Results indicated that socio-economic factors i.e. membership in the dairy cooperative society, non-farm annual income, access to information, and herd size significantly influenced the technical efficiency of farmers. Dairy cooperatives provide several inputs in the form of dairying resources as well as technical information to the farmers which significantly influenced their efficiency. The study concludes with policy prescriptions for enhancing milk production and shift towards sustainable dairying.

Role of Dairy Cooperatives in Strengthening Value Chain of Liquid Milk and its Sustainability in Karnataka: Findings from Preliminary Study

Cooperatives play an important role in achieving and strengthening the sustainability of dairy value chain. In developing countries like India most of the small, marginal and landless farmers are engaged in dairying for their livelihood and hence there is a dire need to strengthen the milk value chain for effective and efficient performance. The present study has been carried out in Bengaluru rural district of Karnataka to analyze the existing scenario of value chain in liquid milk for suggesting policy interventions to strengthen and sustain its performance. Chain wide learning indicated the importance of dairy cooperatives in providing inputs and technical services to farmers as well as integrating production to processing. The study documented the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats for chain actors and finally concluded that synergy between the stakeholders right from input supply to distribution with cooperatives as chain leader will improve the performance and sustainability.

Strengthening Value Chain of Compound Cattle Feed

Huge population of livestock in India offers market potential for the development of animal feed industry. To identify the main areas of intervention for strengthening the value chain in compound cattle feed, a detailed analysis has been done based on the primary data collected from various actors in the value chain (cattle feed manufacturers, input and service suppliers, dealers, retailers and end consumers) located in the states of Punjab and Haryana, representing dynamic dairy production environment and in Odisha and West Bengal, where dairy production is in a transient phase of development. The midstream value chain analysis indicated that manufacturing units had about 18–22% profits margin before tax. The major limitations faced from the upstream value chain were high volatility in prices of feed ingredients, erratic power supply, unskilled workforce, lack of quality testing facilities and control measures and inadequate financial services by the banks (especially, public sector banks) for quick and hassle-free working capital provisioning. The downstream analysis examining the efficacy of the compound cattle feed showed that the productivity enhancement in buffaloes was very small, while in crossbreds the results were encouraging. The study suggests interventions in four major areas, viz. quality assurance and feed safety, maintaining profitability, capacity and skill development, and value chain financing for strengthening the cattle feed value chain in the country.

Ration Balancing: Promising Option for Doubling Income from Dairying

This paper has examined the extent of productivity increase and cost reduction on adoption of balanced animal ration. The study is based on the database extracted from Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH) pertaining to the milk yield and feeding records of about 15000 cattle and buffaloes that were covered under Ration Balancing Program (RBP) of the National Dairy Plan I implemented in the states of Gujarat and Punjab. The econometric analysis of secondary data following before-after impact assessment approach has also been complemented using with-without approach applying Propensity Score Matching technique on the data from field survey collected from 40 villages during the year 2015–16. In Gujarat, the analysis has shown that the ration balancing intervention enhanced the productivity of cows by around 13 per cent and of buffaloes by nearly 5.5 per cent. The quantum of increase discernible from the with-without approach after controlling for the confounding factors was higher, 19.5 per cent for cows and 18 per cent for buffaloes. In Punjab, the estimates of productivity gain for cows was close to 13 per cent based on either approach. Ration balancing has been cost effective in terms of percentage reduction in feed cost and feed cost/litre Fat Corrected Milk (FCM) of both, cattle and buffalo, with the cost efficiency being more pronounced in cows. In cattle, the feed cost per litre FCM reduced in between 5.76 and 9.86 per cent in Gujarat and by 10.83–18.53 per cent in Punjab. The field level data have also indicated a clear impact in reducing the feed cost per litre of milk by about 18–19 per cent in case of cows in both the states and about 2.6 per cent in buffaloes in Gujarat. Given the potential of this intervention in enhancing the dairy income, the paper has also discussed various ways in which its adoption can be promoted among the dairy farmers.

What Determines the Choice of Milk Marketing Channel of Dairy Farmers: Evidence from Kashmir Region?

The study was carried out in Pulwama district of Kashmir Valley with a total sample of 100 dairy farmers. An attempt is made to investigate the choice of market outlets preferred by the dairy farmers for disposing milk and also to examine the determinants of the milk outlet channels with the help of multinomial logit model. Three distinct types of milk marketing outlets were available for the farmers in the district, viz., cooperatives, private processing plants, and traditional players. Results revealed that the important determinants of market participation in alternative milk disposal outlets were the distance to milk collection centers, provision of output services, procurement price of milk and social participation score of the dairy farmer.

Impact of ASEAN-India free trade agreement on Indian dairy trade: A simulation analysis

The study attempts a quantitative assessment of the impact of recently signed ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA) for dairy commodities in India. ASEAN is strategically a potential market in dairy for India and our country already stands as net exporter of dairy products in this region. Partial equilibrium model (SMART model) has been used to simulate the likely impact of dairy exports to and imports from ASEAN countries under the proposed tariff reduction schedule of the AIFTA. The SMART model simulations suggest that AIFTA has generated an additional scope for India to increase its dairy exports to ASEAN countries. On the other hand, tariff elimination from India’s side creates little scope for ASEAN nations to expand their shares. The threat of cheap imports competing with the domestic products in the Indian markets is therefore not alarming. However necessary adjustment assistance may be provided to the dairy product manufacturers to counter the competition in the relevant product lines.

Reviving dairy co-operatives in Kashmir: what has been achieved?

Dairy cooperatives that are mandated to be an instrument of rural development have transformed the rural economy in several parts of the country. The present investigation was carried out to study the performance of dairy cooperatives in Kashmir region. The study is based on secondary data collected from J&K Milk Producers Cooperative Limited. The performance of dairy cooperative societies (DCS) was assessed in relative terms using indexing technique. The results indicated that the physical and financial performance of most of the DCS was far from satisfactory, primarily due to reduced membership and hence, low level of milk procurement. Out of 344 DCS analysed in the study, only a handful of 15 DCS had registered moderate to good level of performance.