Spatio-temporal analysis of milk production in Karnataka state

Abstract

Karnataka ranks 11 th among other states in milk production with 5.7 million tonnes annually. However, the milk productivity in Karnataka has been lower than the national average. There are number of factors that contribute to increasing milk production such as urbanization, enhancement in per capita income and population growth. The factors such as breed improvement through artificial insemination services and veterinary services, manual to mechanization, expanding network of cooperatives and market access have also contributed to increase in milk production. On the other hand, continued scarcity of feed and fodder coupled with increasing prices in addition to water scarcity limit the growth of dairying. Hence, it is important to study the factors influencing trends in milk production. Data for this has been collected and compiled at district level for the period 1997 to 2012. The population of indigenous cattle in Karnataka decreased from 92.92 lakh in 1997 to 69.46 lakh in 2011. The crossbred in Karnataka increased from 12.93 lakh in 1997 to 29.13 in 2011. The shift to crossbred during the study period was higher in north region followed by south and malnad and coastal region. The population of buffalo was decreasing continuously across the all the regions of Karnataka. The average milk yield from indigenous cattle in Karnataka only marginally increased from 2.03 kg in 1997 to 2.25 in 2007 thereafter it was stable. While the average milk yield from crossbred in Karnataka increased from 5.1 kg in 1997 to 5.4 kg by only 0.90 percent in 2006 and during subsequent years the milk yield remained almost same. The milk yield from buffalo in Karnataka increased from 2.43 kg in 1997 to 2.56 kg in 2011. The HER of indigenous cattle in Karnataka was 0.21 in 1997 to 0.25 in 2011. The HER of crossbred in Karnataka increased from 0.32 in 1997 to 0.37 in 2012. The HER of buffalo in Karnataka is steeply increasing from 0.38 in 1997 to 0.52 in 2011. It is clear from the empirical analysis that the increasing per capita income and human population contributed directly or indirectly to increase in milk production. Therefore, it is expected that Karnataka is required to produce more milk in the future as well to meet the increasing demand. The results reveal that of late the farmers in north region are increasingly adopting crossbred due to its economic efficiency and therefore the favourable conditions including required infrastructure facilities and market access should be created for promoting crossbred in north region for the benefit of the farmers.