Buffalo farming is one of the most profitable businesses with high potential of creating employment to millions of people depending on the size of the industry. Currently, India is the leading state regarding buffalo population. The country enjoys a whole 57% of the global buffalo population. Out of the total milk produced, Buffalo milk adds up to 57% of the total production. Buffaloes have several advantages over crossbreed cows thus making them to be preferred more. First, they quickly adapt to the agro-climatic state of the Indian state. Secondly, they are more resistant to diseases when compared to crossbreed cows among other benefits (Perisic, et al., 2015, p. 255).
The dairy industry in India has seen a steady improvement after the country got independence (United Kingdom, 2013). The state currently produces roughly more than 120 million tones of milk per annum. Planners, milk-producing farmers, scientists, and dairy cooperatives have led to the successful development of the industry. In the coming years, the industry is set to grow dramatically. This can be associated with the rapid population growth in the country, the growth of income among the Indians, urbanization, variations in food habits and high-income elasticity of demand. All these factors are responsible for the increased milk demand and are expected to continue well even in the future.
The Indian buffalo industry in India is being challenged by the variation in consumer attitude towards the buffalo products majorly expressed as a growing demand for clean, green, and ethical products. The focus on the clean, green, and ethical issues can be of more significant advantage. It can lead to increased productivity and profitability of the buffalo products. In this section, some of the current problems faced by the Indian Buffalo Industry will be discussed.
The emergence of antibiotic resistance has endangered antibiotics reliability. The wrong use of antibiotics has led to the global rise of multi-resistant microbes that are widely spreading across India. However, dairy farmers among the Indians seem to have realized that for a clean industry to be attained, the certified professional veterinary doctors should administer antibiotics correctly. Farmers are very observant when it comes to treatment schedules and follow up activities according to the results of a study that was done among the Indian farmers (Kumar & Gupta, 2018, p. 276).
Veterinary Consultancy Rate among Farmers
|
Consultancy sources |
Small scale farmers |
Medium Farmers |
Large Farmers |
|
Veterinarians |
50.00% |
76.79% |
87.50% |
Residue in milk is another clean issue facing the industry. According to a survey that was carried out in Hyderabad (India), oxytetracycline residues were found in different samples of milk that were analyzed as shown in the table below.
|
Market samples |
Individual milk samples |
Government dairy samples |
|
73% |
9% |
12% |
In addition, millions of buffaloes are suffering in the dairy farms in unacceptable conditions. They suffer painful health complications due to poor housing and overmedication.
The Indian Buffalo Industry strives to minimize its environmental footprint. Currently, the most significant issue is the production of greenhouse gases (Warriach, et al., 2015, p. 452). The buffalos produce methane gas while excessive use of fertilizers to generate their food emits nitrous oxide.
Heat stress is another issue facing the Indian Buffalo Industry. Global warming and climate change have affected the buffaloes. This has led to decreased conception rate and pregnancy rate among the animals. Additionally, the Indian Buffalo Industry is a major source of emissions. The industry contributes around 40% of the total emissions produced in the state.
A study that was conducted for two years revealed that buffaloes were being handled in cruel ways in the India’s dairy industries. The study revealed that men who had no experience were using equipments that were not sterilized to artificially inseminate buffaloes. Additionally, calves were snatched from their mothers few days after birth (Chatterjee, 2017).
Oxytocin injection are becoming a critical ethical issue in the Indian Buffalo Industry. The dairy farmers use it to extract more milk from the buffaloes. The drug in addition to making buffaloes become barren, it also lowers their lifespan. This has led to an increase in the number of barren buffaloes across the industry.
Calves are the future herd. They need to be kept health and fit. The death of carves has recently risen in India. In a study that was recently conducted, mortality rate of the calves was found to be at 19.18% in Malir and Okara farms. Pneumonia, miscellaneous causes, and septicemia were found to be some of the major causes of the death as shown below.
Causes of Mortality in the Dams of three calf age groups at Okara Farm
|
Causes of death |
Gp-1 |
Gp-2 |
Gp-3 |
|||
|
Deaths |
% |
Deaths |
% |
Deaths |
% |
|
|
Gastroenteritis |
4 |
1.55 |
10 |
3.98 |
20 |
7.82 |
|
Septicemia |
10 |
3.89 |
12 |
4.66 |
33 |
12.84 |
|
Pneumonia |
4 |
1.55 |
10 |
3.89 |
8 |
3.11 |
|
Miscellaneous causes |
12 |
4.66 |
28 |
10.89 |
39 |
15.17 |
|
Note: Gp-1 = 3 years, Gp-2 = 3.1 – 8 years, Gp-3 = above 8 years |
There are a considerable number of unproductive buffalos, which compete, with the other productive buffalos over the limited utilization of available folder and feeds (Santra, 2011). Industrial development is taking up any free land that was meant for grazing. There is no effective detection of heat in animals. This means that the buffaloes can give birth at any given place without any veterinary personnel on sight.
Clean Issues
Regarding clean issues in the Indian Buffalo Industry, buffalo farming has made tremendous progress concerning productivity. This has majorly resulted from controlled breeding which has been achieved through artificial insemination. The practice has proved to be effective in improvement of the native breeds and breeding management across the buffalo species. The farmers in the country have widely adopted artificial breeding technologies. This has seen a tremendous increase in buffalo milk production from 66.2 million tonnes in 1995 to around 106.9 million tonnes (Singh & Balhara, 2016, p. 195).
Farmers have also been educated on new and safe methods of using antibiotics (Chauhan, et al., 2018). This has reduced cases of antibiotic resistance. The government has also subsidized the prices of farm inputs such as fertilizers in a bid to encourage more farmers to plant the required pasture for the buffalos.
Green Issues
Dairy products processing plants use large chunks of water to maintain hygienic and clean environments. They are therefore the primary generators of wastewaters in India. This waste contains high organic load as well as right quantities of sanitizing and cleaning compounds high in sodium and nitrate compounds (Liu & Haynes, 2011, p. 1531). Before disposal, the Indian Buffalo industry practices primary and secondary treatment of the waste. It uses aerobic and anaerobic methods in the secondary treatment. The treated effluent becomes a cheap source of nutrients and water for pasture production in the land surrounding the industry.
Ethical Issues
Just like any other livestock industry, the buffalo farming sector faces severe risks of pests and disease incursions some of which have capabilities of affecting the entire industry. The industry has devised a robust farm biosecurity plan. The plan helps it to control the spread of diseases and pests through early detection and reporting of pests and diseases (Cochrane, et al., 2016). This increases chances of efficient and effective eradication of the conditions and pests. This has dramatically solved the ethical issues affecting the Indian Buffalo Industry.
Alternative Solutions
Inadequate storage facilities are one of the most common problems shared by Buffalo farmers in India. The result of this is usually heavy losses as milk products go to waste. Ideally, the government of India can offer storage facilities that are portable to the farmers. This way, the farmers can ensure continuous milk production even at times of rains.
To begin with, the industry needs to put proper infrastructure for their herd. The layout and design of the grazing infrastructure should be ideal for the performance of the buffaloes. It should allow for additional days at the grass field hence increase the profit of the herd. The industry also needs to improve its supply of water. There should be a water reserve on every paddock. The pathways on which the buffaloes walk when moving from paddocks to the milking parlor must also be friendly to their hoofs.
Secondly, the industry should device proper mechanisms of disposing waste. Proper disposal of waste helps in the efficient utilization of wastes (Mondal, 2014). The Indian Buffalo Industry needs to device appropriate ways that can help it dispose the debris from the animals as well as the processing plants effectively. This will reduce the impacts the waste has on the atmosphere such as acid rains and greenhouse effects, which resulted from the accumulation of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. Safe working conditions are fundamental for healthy living as well as ensuring that the dairy herds are free from diseases (Lunner-Kolstrup & Ssali, 2016,). Lastly, the industry needs to come up with proper health and disease control programs for example, monthly inspection, and treatment of the buffaloes.
References
Chauhan, Abhimanyu Singh; George, Mathew Sunil; Chatterjee, Pranab; Lindahl, Johanna; Grace, Delia; Kakkar, Manish, 2018. The Social Biography of Antibiotic use in Smallholder Dairy Farms in India. [Online]
Available at: https://aricjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13756-018-0354-9
[Accessed 6 November 2018].
Cochrane, Roger A.; MS; Dritz, Steve S.; Woodworth, Jason C.; Stark, Charles R.; Huss, Anne R.; Cano, Jean Paul; Thompson, Robert W.; Fahrenholz, Adam C.; Jones, Cassandra K., 2016. Feed Mill Biosecurity Plans: A Systematic Approach to Prevent Biological Pathogens in Swine Feed. J Swine Health Prod, 24(3), pp. 154- 164.
Ganguly, N K; Arora, N K; Chandy, S J; Fairoze, M N; Gill, J P; Gupta, U; Hossain, S; Joglekar, S; Joshi, P C; Kakkar, M; Kotwani, A; Rattan, A; Sudarshan, H; Thomas, K; Wattal, C; Easton, A; Laxminarayan, R, 2011. Rationalizing antibiotic use to limit antibiotic resistance in India+. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 134(3), p. 281–294.
Groot, M. J. & Hooft, K. E. v., 2016. The Hidden Effects of Dairy Farming on Public and Environmental Health in the Netherlands, India, Ethiopia, and Uganda, Considering the Use of Antibiotics and Other Agro-chemicals. Frontiers in Public Health, 4(12), p. Online.
Kumar, V. & Gupta, J., 2018. Prevailing practices in the use of antibiotics by dairy farmers in Eastern Haryana region of India. Veterinary World Open Access and Peer Reviewed Journal, 11(3), pp. 274-280.
Liu, Y. Y. & Haynes, R. J., 2011. Origin, Nature, and Treatment of Effluents From Dairy and Meat Processing Factories and the Effects of Their Irrigation on the Quality of Agricultural Soils. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 41(17), pp. 1531-1599.
Lunner-Kolstrup, C. & Ssali, T. K., 2016. Awareness and Need for Knowledge of Health and Safety among Dairy Farmers Interviewed in Uganda. Frontiers in Public Health, 4(137), p. Online.
Mondal, P., 2014. Effective Animal Waste Management Systems. [Online]
Available at: https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/dairy-farm-management/effective-animal-waste-management-systems/36110
[Accessed 6 November 2018].
Perisic, P.; Bogdanovic, V.; Mekic, C.; Ruzic-Muslic, D.; Stanojevic, D.; Popovac, M.; Stepic, S., 2015. The Importance of Buffalo in Milk Production and Buffalo Population in Serbia. Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry, 31(2), pp. 255-263.
Rayamajhi, R. J., 2014. Milk production its commercial aspects, ethical issues, impacts on human health and relation to the widely growing science of biotechnology. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 5(12), p. Online.
Santra, S., 2011. Challenges Faced By The Indian Dairy Sector. Indian Dairy Industry, p. Online.
Singh, I. & Balhara, A. K., 2016. New approaches in Buffalo Artificial Insemination Programs with Special Reference to India.. Theriogenology, 86(1), pp. 194-199.
United Kingdom, E., 2013. Dairy Industry In India Current Perspective And Status Biology Essay. [Online]
Available at: https://www.uniassignment.com/essay-samples/biology/dairy-industry-in-india-current-perspective-and-status-biology-essay.php?cref=1
[Accessed 5 November 2018].
Warriach, H. M.; McGill, D. M.; Bush, R. D.; Wynn, P. C.; Chohan, K. R., 2015. A Review of Recent Developments in Buffalo Reproduction — A Review. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Sciences, 28(3), pp. 451-455
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