Image used for representational purpose only.
| Photo Credit: Manjunath H.S.
The ‘Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics,’ prepared by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying after an integrated sample survey, showed an increase in the milk, eggs and meat productions in the country.
Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, who released the report on Wednesday, said the contribution of livestock sector in the agriculture sector had been showing steady improvement that signifies its growing importance for the country’s economy.
The report said total milk production in the country was 221.06 million tonnes in 2022. India continued to remain as the largest milk producing country in the world. The production had increased by 5.29% over the previous year, the report said. The per capita availability of milk was 444 grams per day.
The milk production from exotic/crossbred cattle had increased by 6.16% and indigenous or non-descript cattle had gone up by 6.13% as compared to previous year. The milk production from buffaloes also increased by 4.44% as compared to 2021 and indigenous buffaloes contributed 31.58% of the total production followed by 29.91% by crossbred cattle. “The Indigenous cattle contribute 10.35% of the total milk production in the country whereas non-descript cattle contribute 9.82% and non-descript buffaloes contribute 13.49% of the total milk production in the country. “
Goat milk shared a contribution of 2.93% in the total production across the country. Exotic cow had a share of 1.92% to the total milk production, the survey showed. Rajasthan (15.05%), Uttar Pradesh (14.93%), Madhya Pradesh (8.60%), Gujarat (7.56%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.97%) together contribute 53.11% of total milk production in the country. The milk production was 209.96 million tonnes in 2020-21.
The total egg production in the country was 129.60 billion numbers and it is an increase by 6.19% than the previous year. The per capita availability of egg is 95 eggs per annum. Top five egg producing States are Andhra Pradesh (20.41%), Tamil Nadu (16.08%), Telangana (12.86%), West Bengal (8.84%) and Karnataka (6.38%) and these States together contribute 64.56% of total egg production in the country.
The total meat production in the country was 9.29 million tonnes. It had increased by 5.62% as compared to previous year. The meat production from poultry was 4.78 million tonnes, contributing about 51.44% of the total production. The growth of poultry meat production has increased by 6.86% over previous year. “The top five meat producing States are Maharashtra (12.25%), Uttar Pradesh (12.14%), West Bengal (11.63%), Andhra Pradesh (11.04%) and Telangana (10.82%). They together contribute 57.86% of total meat production in the country,” the survey said.
51.44% of meat production was contributed by poultry. “Buffalo, goat, sheep, pig, and cattle contribute nearly 17.49%, 13.63%, 10.33%, 3.93% and 3.18% of meat production respectively to the total meat production of the country,” the survey added.
Ranpal Dhanda, president of Poultry Federation of India, said more people were opting for eggs and chicken for their protein necessities. “Any increase in our per capita eggs and meat consumption will bring a lot of employment opportunities in the country. Even now, our per capita eggs and chicken consumption is much less than the developed world,” Mr. Dhanda said.
The total wool production in the country during 2021-22 was 33.13 thousand tonnes which had declined by 10.30% as compared to previous year, the survey added.
