Sensitivity of Livestock Production to Climatic Variability Under Indian Drylands and Future Perspective

Shalander Kumar,C A Ramarao,Thiagarajah Ramilan,B M K Raju

doi:10.12944/carj.3.2.08

Abstract

The livestock production system is considered equally sensitive to climate change as that of core agriculture system and at the same time livestock itself is also contributing to the phenomenon. The present paper attempts to analyze the sensitivity of livestock productivity in rainfed regions to climatic variability, significance of climate change with respect to Indian livestock and mitigation options and leverage points in such a scenario. The sensitively of livestock productivity was examined by using district level data of milk productivity of cow as well as buffalo for the year 1992 and 1997 for 100 districts which was regressed on important weather variables. The analysis shows that weather variables like rainfall and temperature do significantly influence the milk productivity of animals in rainfed regions. Increased climatic variability due to changing climate is likely to negatively influence the livestock productivity. Based on analysis and stakeholders consultation the paper suggests appropriate adaptation strategies particularly focusing on mitigating feed scarcity situations arising due to climatic variability.

Highlights

Climate change is a global phenomenon; its negative impacts are likely to be felt more severely by poor people in developing countries who rely heavily on the natural resource base for their livelihoods
The data on livestock population was sourced from Livestock Census, Govt. of India (1992, 1997, 2003 and 2007)11, and climate data from Http://www. indiawaterportal.org/, district level data computed from Climate Research Unit (CRU) TS2.1 dataset, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK12
The rainfed regions in India which account for 56 % of the total net sown area and 40 % of total food production and support more than 60 % livestock population of the country are more vulnerable to climatic variability because of their greater dependence on natural resources and rainwater17

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is a global phenomenon; its negative impacts are likely to be felt more severely by poor people in developing countries who rely heavily on the natural resource base for their livelihoods. The livestock is considered one of the causes of greenhouse gas emissions, at the same time livestock production is likely to get adversely impacted due to changing climate.

Results

Conclusion