Analysis on trends of geographic and demographic distribution of goat population and production in India

Abstract

The present status of goat population and production in India were analysed to decipher the trends in their geographic and demographic distribution across the country. India with 148.88 million goats holds the largest population of goats in the world. It is predicted that the overall population of goats will increase to 162.32 million in 2031. Only four states viz., Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar hold the 43.27% of the total goat population of the country. The region comprising three districts of Dinajpur Uttar, Dinajpur Dakshin and Maldah in North-central West Bengal has the highest density of 314.6 goats per Km2. Barmer district in Rajasthan has the highest population (2.947 million) of goats followed by Murshidabad in West Bengal (1.751 million), Jodhpur (1.641 million) in Rajasthan and Maldah (1.376 million) in West Bengal. In terms of population density per Km2, West Bengal has the highest density of goats (183.4.0/Km2) followed by Bihar (136.2/Km2), Jharkhand (114.4/Km2) and Tamil Nadu (76.0/Km2). The increasing trend observed in the states like West Bengal and Bihar that already have very high density of goat population may increase the pressure on already overgrazed and shrinking pastures. Contrarily, in the states like Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Most North Eastern states and union territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, that have comparatively larger forest areas/pastures available but comparatively lower goat density, popularizing the goat rearing especially among the weaker sections can be explored. During 2018–19 goats contributed 1.098 and 6.099 million tonnes of meat and milk, respectively. Black Bengal breed has the largest population (17.409 million) followed by Marwari (5.348 million), Osmanabadi (2.481 million) and Barbari (2.194 million). Although, the overall population of goats has decreased by 3.82% during 2007–12, the population of registered breeds has decreased more than five times as fast (21.7%) during this period. Therefore, serious conservation and improvement efforts are required to arrest decline in population and enhance productivity of the descript breeds of goats.