Abstract

The dairy sector, which contributes to 21 per cent of the value of the agriculture and allied sectors in India, is the growth propeller of the rural economy of the country. However, extraneous factors beyond the farmer’s control, for instance climatic variations such as low rainfall and heavy drought; fluctuating and many a times low prices for produce and exploitation by middlemen have cast a gloomy spell over the sector, indicating that the prospects of the agricultural sector are gloomy, as evinced by the fact that in the year 2014-15, the sector showed a negative growth (-0.20 per cent), from where it is struggling hard to pick up, indicating that its prospects are more or less saturated. The COVID – 19 pandemic which struck, in the beginning of 2020, has added insult to injury, vis-à-vis, the ailing agricultural sector of the country and it hasn’t finished its onslaught, yet. This augurs well for the dairy sector, which grew annually at the rate of around five per cent, since 2014-15 and has started asserting great and added significance, as a livelihood ensurer to the poor farmers of the country.
It is in such a backdrop, we are discussing the strategy of ‘complete feeds’, a novel tool in precision animal nutrition (PAN) which can be adopted for the improvement of the dairy sector, supported by research findings, carried out at Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU). The significance of ‘PAN’, with special emphasis on the innovative technology of ‘complete feed’ which involves feeding the concentrate and roughage ingredients of the feed together, as the sole feed are analysed, in depth, supported by research – cum -economic findings. Recommendations for the upliftment of the sector, based on the research findings on ‘complete feeds’, giving special emphasis to PAN strategies, if implemented at the grass root level, would help dairying to a great extent, which will enable the stake holders, the poor and marginal farmers of India to march forward towards the ‘new normal’ in the post COVID – 19 scenario are also provided.

Keywords : India, Kerala, KVASU, Precision animal nutrition (PAN), Complete feed, Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF), Milk yield, Economics, Cows