Paper Details

The composition of the livestock population in broad groups like bovine (cattle and buffaloes), ovine (sheep and goats), pigs, and poultry has changed over the last two decades. The buffalo population has expanded dramatically from 70 million in 1982 to 98 million in 2003. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of total bovines in the country decreased by 1.9 percent. The overall ovine population has risen from 144 million in 1982 to 186 million in 2003. The number of goats climbed steadily from 95 million in 1982 to 124 million in 2003, albeit slower. Between 1997 and 2003, the goat population grew almost constantly. On the other hand, the sheep population has been expanding, but with significant differences in the trend. Between 1982 and 2003, the poultry population increased more than double, from 207 million to 489 million. Between 1997 and 2003, poultry witnessed an all-time high growth of 7 percent yearly. The pig population has increased from 10 million in 1982 to 14 million in 2003. However, growth in the pig population has decelerated sharply since 1992 due to a lack of widespread demand for pork. Keeping these trends in mind, this paper tries to describe and analyze the present pattern of livestock ownership in India using the 77th round of NSS data.

Livestock, Population, Rural India