Overview of Sheep Farming Sector in India
Overview of Sheep Farming Sector in India
Overview of Sheep Farming Sector in India
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1.1 Introduction
Livestock systems have both positive and negative effects on the natural
resource base, public health, social equity and economic growth (World Bank 2009
developing countries. Its share of agricultural GDP is already 33 per cent and is
quickly increasing. This growth is driven by the rapidly increasing demand for
Sheep with its multi-facet utility for wool, meat, milk, skins and manure,
the shepherds through sale of wool and animals. They play an important role in the
*********
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1.2 Basic information of Sheep as a livestock in the country
i. Sheep are mostly reared for wool and meat. Sheep skins and manure
constitute important sources of earning, the latter particularly in southern
India. Milk from sheep is of limited importance and that too in very limited
areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Indian sheep are not
regarded as dairy sheep.
ii. Basically Sheep are very much compatible for breeding because of their
hardiness and adaptability to dry conditions; the north-western and southern
peninsular regions of the country have a large concentration of sheep. In the
tropics, they are non-seasonal breeders and can be made to lamb throughout
the year.
iii. The productivity of Indian sheep is lower than those of agriculturally more
advanced countries. Yet considering their nutritional and physical
environment, their productivity cannot be considered as inefficient.
iv. The major reasons for low productivity are inadequate grazing resources,
diseases causing high mortality, morbidity and consequent reduced
production, and serious lack of organized effort for bringing genetic
improvement.
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1.3. Present scenario of Sheep Farming Sector in the country.
Indian subcontinent is a rich source of diverse ovine germplasm, and only very few
countries have such a large number of breeds with wide genetic diversity. In India
Sheep make a valuable contribution to the livelihood of the economically weaker
sections of the society. Amongst the livestock owners the shepherds are the poorest
of the lot. The export earnings from different woollen products and mutton is also
noticeably contributing to the National income. Sheep skin in the form of leather
and leather products is also exported.
1.3.1 Demographics
There are many wild varieties of Sheep (Ovis orientalis vignai), in the mountains
from Afganistan to Armenia, who were probably the ancestors of Indian Sheep.
Sheep and Goat are two important livestock varieties in India, especially in areas
where crop and dairy farming are not economical and play an important role in the
large proportion of the livelihood of the small and marginal farmers. Population
statistics of these animals shows that there is a decline in number of animals and in
the number of households having sheep farming.
Figure:1 No of Household Enterprises having Cattle, Buffalo, Sheep, Goat & Pig
65,344
7000
0
No of households in
6000
0 39,18
0 33,01
5000 4
0
4000 4,55
“000
2,550
0 2
3000
Cattle Buffalo Goat Shee Pig
0 pppp
pppp
2000 species ppp
0
1000
0
0
5
1.3.2 Population statistics of Sheep as per the 19thLivestock Census 2012
67,828
70000 61,288
54,385 55,740
60000
48,372
No of animals in '000
50000
40000
30000
20000
Year
Exotic Indigenous
(ii) The sheep population growth rate has been 1.19% CAGR for the period
1992-2012.
(iii) More so, this decline is (-) 16.82% in case of male indigenous Sheep is
attributed to more culling / death of the male animals. That is more
reduction of the male goats/sheep population than can be reproduced of
extant reproduction rate. This is attributed as being due to increasing
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demand of meat in the country as compared to the available animal from
the natural reproduction rate.
(iv) The long term consequence of this could be shortage of sheep meat
which in turn has impact on the nutritional requirement fulfillment of the
country's population. This will have adverse impact on prices of the meat
and then consequential demand for imports which would be detrimental to
the sheep/small ruminant farmers, normally landless and small/marginal
farmers who would loose the opportunity of increasing their income
should there have been support from government to produce more
goat/sheep.
(v) This also goes to show that the Sheep development activities undertaken
in different States of the country during recent years have not made much
impact. This is because Sheep-rearing continues to be a backward
subsistence based side occupation, primarily in the hands of poor, landless
or small and marginal farmers who own either an uneconomical holding
or no land at all, and thus graze their sheep on natural vegetation and crop
stubbles supplemented by tree loppings.
i. Our country has 42 registered breeds of Sheep. Out of these, the high genetic
merit (more meat / milk / wool yield per animal) indigenous registered breeds
are only 14.
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ii. The 14 breeds of Sheep with high genetic worth have a population of 1.77
crore out of the total population 6.5 crore.
The Total Sheep population in India is 66 Million and out of which 80% is located
in 6 states. In this 40 % are non-descript animals and rest comprise of pure/graded,
cross bred or exotic animals, details of which are given below (Integrated Sample
Survey 2015* and 19th Livestock Census, 2012):
Sl Pure /
State Non-Des C.Breed Exotic Total %
No Graded
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5.2.3 Total number of Non-Descript animals
Non-Descript animals
Sl No State
Male Female Total
1 Rajasthan 540093 1871574 2411667
2 Jammu & Kashmir 232785 561657 794442
3 Uttar Pradesh 275397 501408 776805
4 Karnataka 794015 3139092 3933107
5 Andhra Pradesh 2225435 8259132 10484567
6 Bihar 53820 81906 135726
Total 4121545 14414769 18536314
Exotic
Sl No State
Male Female Total
1 Rajasthan 25600 26662 52262
2 Jammu & Kashmir 126553 89331 215884
3 Uttar Pradesh 755 1553 2308
4 Karnataka 9681 22545 32226
5 Andhra Pradesh 5776 7266 13042
6 Bihar 0 0 0
Total 168365 147357 315722
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5.2.6 Total number of Pure / Graded animals
10
15 Jaisalmeri Rajasthan
16 Jalauni UP and MP
17 Karnah Jammu and Kashmir
18 Kenguri Karnataka
19 Kilakarsal Tamilnadu
20 Madras Red Tamilnadu
21 Magra Rajasthan
22 Malpura Rajasthan
23 Mandya Karnataka
24 Marwari Rajasthan and Gujarat
25 Mecheri Tamilnadu
Uttar Pradesh and
26 Muzzafarnagri Uttarakhand
27 Nali Rajasthan
28 Nellore Andhra Pradesh
29 Nilgiri Tamilnadu
30 Patanwadi Gujarat
31 Poonchi Jammu and Kashmir
32 Pugal Rajasthan
33 Ramnad White Tamilnadu
34 Rampur Bushair Himachal Pradesh
35 Shahbadi Bihar
36 Sonadi Rajasthan
37 Tibetan Arunachal Pradesh
38 Tiruchi Black Tamilnadu
39 Vembur Tamilnadu
40 Katchaikatty Black Tamilnadu
41 Chevaadu Tamilnadu
42 Kendrapada Odisha
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3 Nilgiri TN 0.02 NA 3.8 13.41 30 25 47 14.1 11.75 0.88
i. From the above chart it is clear that out of the total Sheep population of
6.5 crore, the population of 14 out of 42 registered breeds of Sheep is
merely 1.77 crore (as per Breed Survey Book, 2013) that is about 27.23%.
Thus the balance of 72.77% of Sheep, that is about 4.73 crore are very
poor breed/mosaic/heterozygous quality and having very low wool/meat
productivity.
1.3.6 Around the world there are about 200 sheep breeds. Based on the production
1. Meat Productive Sheep Breeds: Dorset, Suffolk and Cheviot are meat
productive sheep breeds.
2. Hair Productive Sheep Breeds: Merino and Ramboullet are hair productive
sheep breeds.
3. Hair and Meat Productive Sheep Breeds: Montadale, Kooka, etc. are hair and
meat productive sheep breeds.
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Balangiri in eastern region, Gaddi in northern region, Magra north western
region and Deccani in south peninsular region are the popular sheep breeds in
India. Bannur, Bellary, Cheviot, Deccani, Hassn, Merino, Ramboullet and South
Down are the different sheep breeds that are reared commercially.
Sheep are multi-purpose animals, are raised for their meat, milk, wool, hides, and
skins. Sheep are also a popular research model and some producers have developed
businesses supplying animals or other products (e.g. blood) to bio-science. Thus,
one of the first and most important decisions in the sector is to decide which
aspect(s) of sheep production to focus on. While most sheep breeds are multi-
purpose, most are best suited to either meat, milk, or wool production -- seldom all
three.
In India, Sheep are mainly for the production of Meat and Wool. Production
practices usually vary according to the purpose of the flock.
i. In India, most sheep and lambs are indigenous dual purpose animals kept
primarily for the production of lambs for meat or dual-purpose breeds kept for
both meat and wool production. Meat production is also a significant profit
center in sheep rearing.
ii. Meat sheep producers sell either slaughter lambs or feeder lambs. Slaughter
lambs are usually purchased for immediate slaughter. In the present conditions,
the average slaughter weight for a lamb is 20-35 kg and the Dressing percentage
is 40-50%. However, as per the BAHS 2016 data,average yield per animal is
only 9.05/kg/animal. Increasingly, there is a market for slaughter lambs of any
weight.
iii. Feeder lambs are lambs that are usually fed to heavier weights before being
harvested. Feeder lambs vary in weight, usually from 40-50 kg. These are
mainly meat breeds or selected cross bred animals. However in India, the
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availability of feeder lambs/meat breeds are very less despite of increased
demand and profit.
i. Wool was the first commodity to be traded internationally and is the product the
public most commonly associates with sheep. However, the importance of wool
(as a product) relative to meat is less because of the quality of the wool
produced. In India because of various reasons and changing agro climatic
conditions, the hair type of the majority of Sheep is coarse and carpet type. So,
production of fine wool is very limited.
ii. Fine wool brings the most money in the commodity market. Unfortunately, in
India fine wool production is very much limited to Ley-Lehdak region of
Jammu&Kashmir. Feeding, housing, health care, handling, and harvesting are
all critical to the production of high quality wool.
i. Sheep have been milked for thousands of years and were milked long before the
first cow was milked. The world's commercial dairy sheep industry is
concentrated in Europe and the countries on or near the Mediterranean Sea. The
dairy sheep industry is very small in India.
ii. Sheep's milk is usually made into gourmet cheeses. Some milk is made into
yogurt and ice cream. Fresh sheep's milk is seldom consumed. Milk can be sold to
a processor for conversion to cheese (or other products) or the milk can be
processed on-farm by the producer and marketed as a value-added product.
iii. While any breed of sheep can be milked, there are specialized dairy sheep breeds,
much like there are specialized breeds of cattle and goats for dairy production. But
none of the Indian breeds are pure milch type.
iv. In Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat sheep are reared for milk but sheep
milk is of less importance and the Indian sheep are not considered as dairy sheep.
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1.3.11 Importance of Sheep milk
1. Sheep milk is of more use. In world milk production sheep produce 10,122,522
tonnes out of total production 753,925,418 tonnes (FAO of United Nations, 2012)
i.e 1.3 percent of the total production.
2. Sheep milk is highly nutritious contains more vitamin A, B and E, Calcium,
Phosphorus, Potassium and Magnesium than that of cow‟s milk. It contains high
amount of short and medium chain fatty acids. Sheep milk contains more
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) than milk of other animals which is cancer-
fighting and fat-reducing fat. It yields 18 – 25 percent cheese whereas the yield
from cow and goat is only 9 -10 percent.
3. Sheep cheese comprises about 1.3 percent of the world's cheese production. Some
of the world's most famous cheeses were originally made from sheep's milk:
Roquefort, Feta, Ricotta, and Pecorina Romano. Sheep's milk is also made into
yogurt, butter, and ice cream.
The Indian sheep are derived both from Urial and Argali stock. They are thin tailed,
medium to coarse wool type in North temperate and North Western regions and
hairy type in Southern Peninsular and Eastern regions. The present day Indian
breeds are the outcome of thousands of years of deliberate natural selection and
field level cross breeding for adaptation to specific agro-ecological conditions.
The sheep breeds in India, have been classified on the basis of agro-ecological
regions viz. i) North temperate region, ii) North-Western arid and semi arid
region iii) Southern peninsular region and iv) Eastern region
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are small and stationary. However, about 20% of the flocks are migratory and
are comparatively bigger in size. Most of the animals in this area have been
involved over the last few years in cross-breeding with exotic fine wool
breeds for increasing apparel wool production.
2. The North-Western arid and semi arid region: The region comprises the
States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat and the plains of Uttar
Pradesh Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The region consists of vast
alluvial plains with scattered hills and sandy desert with undulating
topography. Most sheep flocks are stationary. This region has the second
largest population of sheep of the four regions. Wool produced is mostly
suited for manufacture of carpets, felts and blankets. This region is the most
important in the country for carpet-wool production.
3. The Southern peninsular region: This region is semiarid in the central
peninsula and hot and humid along the coast. It comprises the states of
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other
territories in the central area. The topography of this region is comprised of
highlands, plateaus, fluvial deltas and planes, mountain ranges and sandy
tracts. There is very little migration of the kind observed in the north-western
region. In Maharashtra, about 80% of the sheep are stationary. This region
has the largest sheep population of the country. Almost half of these produce
no wool; the rest produce very coarse, hairy and coloured fleeces. Most sheep
in this region are maintained primarily for meat.
4. The Eastern region: The region comprises the states of Bihar, Jharkhand,
West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,
Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim. It is mostly hot and humid, except
for some parts of eastern states, which are sub-temperate and humid. The
topography in this region represents vast variation including hill ranges and
valleys of north-eastern areas, alluvial plains with uplands and down lands in
some areas in Bihar and plateaus and table-land in Orissa. There is maximum
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rain in this part of the country and therefore the climate is humid during most
part of the year. In the plains most of the flocks are stationary. Most of the
breeds are primarily maintained for meat and the animals produce extremely
coarse and hairy fleeces.
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(million kg)
Remarks Sizeable Hissardale evolved Deccani/Bellary, Wool is
proportion of at Govt. Livestock Mandya & extremely
8 sheep in this Farm, Hissar Coimbatore produce coarse and
region, esp. through extremely coarse and hairy, except in
J&K, consists interbreeding hairy fleeces Arunachal
of crosses Merino x Bikaneri Pradesh where
between (3/4) crossbreds Nilgiris (produced by a small number
indigenous crossing indigenous of better wool
breeds and Mostly coarse hairy breeds with quality sheep
exotic fine wool carpet quality wool exotic breeds like are available
breeds except Chokla & Cape Merino,
Patanwadi (which Southdown, Cheviot
Kashmir produce fine quality etc) produce fine
Merino has carpet/medium wool
evolved from quality apparel
higher crosses wool) Other breeds do not
of indigenous produce any wool and
and exotic fine are primarily used for
wool breeds meat production
9 Staple 5.33-10.27 3.80-8.66 6.11-6.95 4.60-4.70
length (cm)
10 Fibre 25.14-33.11 28.00-52.00 26.88-55.00 66.40-66.66
diameter (µ)
11 Medullation 5.47-17.59 18.31-85.14 11.37-64.10 88.00-99.00
(%)
12 Wool 36-58/80 36-54 34.5-36 <36
quality
(counts)
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Generally there are two types of migratory flocks:-
b) Flocks on the fallow land, but following definite migratory routes to the
season pastures and returning to their permanent abodes during other seasons.
AP and Maharashtra.
10 Gaddi Himachal Pradesh
11 Ganjam Orissa
12 Garole West Bengal
13 Gurez Jammu and Kashmir
14 Hassan Karnataka
15 Jaisalmeri Rajasthan
16 Jalauni UP and MP
17 Karnah Jammu and Kashmir
18 Kenguri Karnataka
19 Kilakarsal Tamilnadu
20 Madras Red Tamilnadu
21 Magra Rajasthan
22 Malpura Rajasthan
23 Mandya Karnataka
24 Marwari Rajasthan and Gujarat
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25 Mecheri Tamilnadu
Uttar Pradesh and
26 Muzzafarnagri Uttarakhand
27 Nali Rajasthan
28 Nellore Andhra Pradesh
29 Nilgiri Tamilnadu
30 Patanwadi Gujarat
31 Poonchi Jammu and Kashmir
32 Pugal Rajasthan
33 Ramnad White Tamilnadu
34 Rampur Bushair Himachal Pradesh
35 Shahbadi Bihar
36 Sonadi Rajasthan
37 Tibetan Arunachal Pradesh
38 Tiruchi Black Tamilnadu
39 Vembur Tamilnadu
40 Katchaikatty Black Tamilnadu
41 Chevaadu Tamilnadu
42 Kendrapada Odisha
ii. From the above chart it is clear that out of the total Sheep population of
6.5 crore, the population of 14 out of 42 registered breeds of Sheep is
merely 1.77 crore (as per Breed Survey Book, 2013) that is about 27.23%.
Thus the balance of 72.77% of Sheep, that is about 4.73 crore are very
poor breed/mosaic/heterozygous quality and having very low wool/meat
productivity.
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(2 ) Meat (Mutton) Production
2.1 Introduction
The total meat production in the country is pegged at 7.0 million tons in the year
2015-16 which marks a significant progress in the meat production.
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In the total meat production Sheep contributes 7% , the meat type break up for the
country is as below:
2.2.2 Several studies in the sector have shown that the inclusion of certain amounts
of concentrates in the diet of grazing lambs on improved pastures, could improve
animal performance, carcass and meat quality, sensory attributes, and consumer
acceptance without changing the fatty acid composition compared with the grass-
fed animals. Later, these results were confirmed by Montossi et al. (2009).
Therefore, it is possible to use restricted grain supplementation to promote
simultaneously lamb productivity and efficiency and healthy meat under grazing
conditions.
2.2.3 Increase productivity and efficiency of lamb meat production is a key factor to
augment the competitiveness of the meat sheep industry. Reproduction rate, lamb
growth and carcass quality have a major influence on producer returns. All of these
traits of economical interest can be improved through different nutritional and
husbandry practices. The potential changes that could be obtained by management
and nutrition are affected by environmental conditions, particularly under extensive
conditions. By contrast, genetic improvement of the traits contributing to lamb meat
2.2.4 Meat production in India is far below the level of demand from the huge
population. Sheep occupy a special niche in the Indian agricultural production
system and are important for the rural economy. However, the litter size of almost
all Indian sheep breeds, except the Garole, is low and is thus a major constraint to
sheep-meat production. The Garole is the only known prolific sheep breed in India
(Pardeshi et al., 2005). Garole, a precious sheep breed from West Bengal an eastern
province of India, is having some outstanding genetic potentiality such as high
fecundity and lambing frequency. Its prolificacy, lambing frequency, disease
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resistance and other extraordinary merits rarely observed in any other sheep breeds
of the world.
2.2.5 Meat is mainly composed of water, fat, protein, minerals (ash) and a small
amount of carbohydrate. Water is the most variable of these components, but is
closely and inversely related to the fat content. So, through scientific feeding and
managemental improvements we can improve the quality of Mutton.
2.2.6 In Mutton production, disease control and livestock health aspects are more
important. This is a major factor for increasing the production as well as
productivity of Sheep in the country. Lamb mortality has both economic and animal
welfare implications in sheep production, especially in extensive systems where it
will be around 20–25%. Strategies to improve lamb survival have been evaluated
for a long time, including nutritional management of the lambing ewe, timing of
reproduction selection of ewes for improved mothering ability and shearing
management. By careful shepherding of the ewe from conception to delivery, and
the perinatal care of the new born lamb, many deaths can be avoided.
i. Total Sheep meat(Mutton) production was 482.52 thousand tons and for this
58% of animals were slaughtered Out of the total population, which has a
value of about 194 Cr.(@400/kg meat)
ii. 27363.79 thousands Sheep adults were slaughtered to get 377.55 thousand
tons of mutton
iii. 10853.88 thousands of young sheep were slaughtered t o get 107.97 thousand
tons of mutton.
iv. CAGR was 5.32 %
v. GVA at current prices is 14699 Cr.
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2.4 Export Profile of Mutton in India.
i. India is the largest exporter of Sheep & Goat meat to the world. The country
has exported 21,950.71 MT of sheep & goat meat to the world for the worth
of Rs. 837.76 crores during the year 2015-16.(APEDA) .
ii. Sheep and goat together contributes 20%(13 and 7) of total meat production
in the country. Out of this 20% sheep(Mutton) contributes about 35%.
iii. Major Export Destinations (2015-16) : United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
iv. The main product types are Carcasses Of Lamb (Fresh), Carcasses Of Sheep
(Fresh), Meat Of Sheep With Bone (Fresh), Boneless Meat Of Sheep
(Fresh), Carcasses Of Lamb (Frozen) ,Carcasses Of Sheep (Frozen) , Meat
Of Sheep With Bone (Frozen), Boneless Meat Of Sheep (Frozen), Meat Of
Goats.
v. Major producing states are Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, Hilly regions of North and Eastern Himalays.
vi. On the outlier hand growth in ovine meat exports was 3.43 percent during
vii. 1980-90, which substantially declined and has become negative to the extent
of 2.41 percent during 1990-99. The scope for export of sheep, goat and
poultry meat is constrained by high domestic demand and prices.
2.5 Demand- Production Gap Analysis:
i. Meat and meat products are crucial part of the man‟s diet. Meat is highly
demanded food items of human being due to presence of plentiful proteins,
minerals and all the B-complex vitamins with excellent digestibility and
well-balanced composition of essential amino acids.
ii. The availability of meat in India is only about 15g/person/day against the
ICMR recommendation of 30g/person/day. Thus it is apparent that there
exists a huge gap of meat availability
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iii. Analysed from the point of required nutrition, as per WHO standards, the
daily requirement of protein is 63 gm per day. In average Indian diet
conditions, 50.75 gm per day per person (approx.) for the vegetarian
population, and about 55.25 gm per day per person (approx.) for the non-
vegetarian population is available. Notwithstanding this, the average deficit
of protein requirement is approximately 12.25 gm for vegetarian and 7.75 gm
for non-vegetarian.
iv. Moreover, by 2050, it is expected that the population in India would increase
by 34% and to fulfill the dietary recommended levels of the livestock
products by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for a population of
1.7 billion people, the livestock sector should produce 186.2 million tons of
milk, 18.7 million tons of meat and 306 billion eggs per annum. This means
that the current level of production, the milk, meat and eggs would have to
increase by 1.5, 3 and 4.7 times respectively. Fulfilling the feed demand of
this huge livestock from same resource base of land and water is going to be
a huge challenge. Therefore, rather than increasing the number of animals,
improving the genetics through breed improvement programme might be a
better strategy to address the required demand for animal protein.
As per ICAR data and Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics, following are some
of the short term projections:
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(3) Wool Production
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3.1 Introduction
According to Government of India estimates, for fiscal year (FY) 2012-13
(April-March) raw wool production was 46.1 million kilograms (kg), which has
decreased in the last 10 years due to a lower sheep population.Certain facts about
the wool production in our country are,
i. The GOI 2012 livestock census reported that since 2007 the sheep
population declined by 9.07 percent and reached to 65 million.
ii. The average annual yield of wool is 0.9 kg per sheep, much lower than the
world average of 2.4 kg per sheep.
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iii. Most wool is produced in States like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Jammu and
Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, and
Uttar Pradesh .
iv. In general, Indian wool is coarse, and considered to be of low quality (28
microns and above); it is primarily used to manufacture hand-made carpets.
v. The agro-climatic condition of India does not favor higher quality wool
production. (source:- http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/MarketReport) Only
some areas that border the Himalayas produce finer grade wool, which is of
high demand.
vi. There has been consistent increase in production of wool till 1986-87 and
thereafter there were marginal reduction in the production estimate till 1992-
93. The production has further improved consistently till 2002-03 and further
shown a decreasing trend till 2010-11 and during 2010-11 to 2014-15, the
production has increased from 43.0 million kg to 48.1 million kg. However,
the wool production has further declined to 43.6 Million Kgs. during 2015-
16.
Graph shows the change in production of wool during the year 2011-12 to 2015-16. From the
year 2013-14, there is a declining trend in the growth of wool production as has been observed
from the graph.
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The wool production has witnessed a larger negative growth during 2015-16 and registered as (-)
9.47%.
ii. Ram/Weather Ewe and Lamb contributes only 18% and 12% respectively.
There has been varying trend in the production of wool across various States during the period
2011-12 to 2015-16. Rajasthan was the largest producer of wool throughout the period 2011-12 to
2015-16.
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3.4 Wool Production Vis a Vis Physical Target 2015-16
Graph shows the percentage achievement of wool production against the target set by the
various States. States like Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, West Bengal and Telangana
have achieved the target for the year 2015-16. From the graph it is seen that 5 States where
percentage achievement crosses 90% and there are other few States like Uttar Pradesh whose
achievement is far below 50%.
3.5 Wool Productivity: Sheep in the Northern temperate region produce wool of
good apparel quality. Similarly, in climatically alike areas of southern hills, the
Nilgiri sheep also produce wool of similar quality. This, however, goes down as we
move from Northern temperate to North-western region where sheep produce wool
of superior to coarse quality. Sheep of Southern peninsular region either produce no
wool or very little of 36s quality and are primarily used for meat production. Same
is the position in Eastern region as the area is of very high humidity and is not
suitable for extensive sheep raising, especially for wool.
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Colour of fleece is generally white in the North-western hilly region, though
black is not uncommon. Black and brown colour appears in greater proportion as
we move towards North-west. In North-western plains containing arid and semi-
arid sub-tropical conditions, fleece colour is again predominantly white with black
and brown mostly on non-fleece points such as head and neck. In this region,
problems of canary colouration of wool (non-scourable golden yellow colour) are
usually observed in the autumn season.
This results in almost 82% canary staining of the autumn clip which fetches
8-20% lower price resulting into a loss of about 1.5 crores per annum. A biological
phenomenon of this colouration is presumed to be a sequel to an adaptive thermo-
regulatory mechanism in hot and humid climatic conditions which requires
dissipation of body heat through cutaneous evaporative cooling. The alkaline sweat
under the conditions of high temperature and humidity reacts with wool fibers and
thus causes the yellow colouration.
3.6
3.7
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i. The bulk of Indian wool is of coarse quality and is used mostly in the hand-
made carpet industry. Since indigenous production of fine quality wool
required by the organized mills and decentralized hosiery sector is very
limited, India depends almost exclusively on import.
i. Total wool production of 43.6 million kg shorn from 381.21 lakh sheep
ii. Export of wool valued 11656607854 Cr. (182,076,214.68 USD) In 2013-14
Nearly 71% of the production of wool is contributed by Ram while Ewe and Lamb contributes
25% and 4%, respectively.
No of
wool production
animals in
in 000kg
Animal shorn lakhs
Lambs 70.41 4982.36
Ewes 256.4 30674.9
ram/wether 53.4 7924.09
380.21 43581.35
i. India does not export raw wool, but does ship intermediate and finished
products such as woolen yarn, fabric, clothing, and carpets (HS codes 51, 57,
61, 62, and 63), which generally have increased in the last few years due to
price competitiveness.
34
(HS code 51) were $178.6 million, up by 19.6 percent. The exports of woolen
apparel and clothing (HS code 61 and 62) in CY 2014 were $321.31 million,
up by 4.15 percent. The exports of other textiles of woolen (HS code 63)
were $5.32 million in CY 2014, up by 30 percent.
iv. The United States and many western European countries import apparel and
clothing, while woolen carpets are mainly exported to the United States,
United Arab Emirates, and western Europe. Hand tufted and hand-made
carpets are the largest share of Indian finished product exports. Woolen
carpets and other floor covering exports (HS Code 57) increased by 11
percent to $531.01 million in CY 2014, 51 percent of total wool product
exports.
As per ICAR data and Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics, following are some of
the short term projections:
35
4. Issues of the Sheep Rearing Sector
36
i. India is having the second highest numberi. i. Unorganised structure of sector.
of Sheep & Goat. (after China).
ii. ii. Lack of marketing infrastructure
ii. Extraordinary hardiness and ability to facilities for Value addition such as meat
adapt to the most harsh regions and
processing, warehousing, Cold storage,
facility of movement in rugged and
harsher terrains refrigerated vehicles
iii. Control of weeds through grazing anima iii. iii. Absence of Public Private
Partnership.
iv. Indigenous breeds with good potential
iv. iv. Lack of demand driven interventions
v. Veterinary infrastructure at ground level
v. v. Poor technical training of sheep
vi. Marketing potential for wool and meat.
growers/farmers.
vii. Regulatory compliance.
vi. vi. Low income/ productivity/production
efficiency
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
37
The future well being of the Indian sheep industry depends on the potential for
profitability, which is affected by various challenges and opportunities. Thre are
three kinds of Challenges observed in the sector.
1. Technical Challenges
2. Commercial Challenges
3. Other Challenges
4.2.1 Technical Challenges
1. Unavailability of high Genetic Potential breeds of Sheep(Livestock breeds
and breeding)
2. Absence of high productive exotic breed for Crossbreeding
3.Lack of Scientific feeding practices
4.Health challenges like PPR,CCPP etc..
5.High lamb mortality
6. Proper animal health services and Availability of drugs
4.2.2 Commercial Challenges
1. Marketing facilities
2. Unorganised nature of the sector
3.Endemic disease problems, and trans-boundary disease risks,
4. Feed resources (Grassland based ruminant systems are largely dependent
on pasture grazing ) and Feed supply chains (compound feed mixing and milling),
5. Instituitional support for entrepreneurship.
4.2.3 Other Challenges
(1) Competition for resources
(i) Land- In the more arid–semiarid areas, livestock are a key mechanism for
managing risk, but population increases are fragmenting rangelands in many places,
making it increasingly difficult for pastoralists to gain access to the feed and water
resources that they have traditionally been able to access.
(ii) Water- Groundwater and freshwater resources play an important role in water
supply: between 1.5 and 3 billion people depend on groundwater for drinking, and
in some regions water tables are declining unremittingly (Rodell et al. 2009). By
38
2025, 64 per cent of the world's population will live in water-stressed basins,
compared with 38 per cent today (Rosegrant et al. 2002). Increasing livestock
numbers in the future will clearly add to the demand for water, particularly in the
production of livestock feed:
Climate change may have substantial effects on the global livestock sector.
Increasing climate variability will undoubtedly increase livestock production risks
as well as reduce the ability of farmers to manage these risks.
Social and cultural drivers of change are having profound effects on livestock
systems in particular places, although it is often unclear how these drivers play out
in relation to impacts on livestock and livestock systems. Livestock have multiple
roles in human society. They contribute substantially and directly to food security
and to human health. For poor and under-nourished people, particularly children,
the addition of modest amounts of livestock products to their diets can have
substantial benefits for physical and mental health.
In addition to their food security, human health, economic and environmental roles,
livestock have important social and cultural roles.
39
(4) Ethical concerns as a driver of change
Ethical concerns may play an increasing role in affecting the production and
consumption of livestock products. Recent high-profile calls to flock to the banner
of global vegetarianism, backed by exaggerated claims of livestock's role in
anthropogenic global greenhouse gas emissions, though debates, it could become an
issue sometimes in future.
From a technological point of view, this may not be a wildcard at all, as its
development is generally held to be perfectly feasible (Cuhls 2008), and indeed
research projects on it have been running for a decade already. In vitro meat could
potentially bypass many of the public health issues that are currently associated
with livestock-based meat. The development and uptake of in vitro meat on a large
scale would unquestionably be hugely disruptive to the traditional livestock sector.
(ii) Nanotechnology
40
Much evidence points to a serious disconnect between science and public
perceptions. Marked distrust of science is a recurring theme in polls of public
perceptions of nuclear energy, genetic modification and, spectacularly,
anthropogenic global warming. One of several key reasons for this distrust is a lack
of credible, transparent and well-communicated risk analyses associated with many
of the highly technological issues of the day. One area where there are numerous
potential applications to agriculture is the use of transgenic methodology to develop
new or altered strains of livestock. These applications include „… improved milk
production and composition, increased growth rate, improved feed usage, improved
carcass composition, increased disease resistance, enhanced reproductive
performance, and increased prolificacy‟ (Wheeler 2007, p. 204). Social concerns
could seriously jeopardize even the judicious application of such new science and
technology in providing enormous economic, environmental and social benefits. If
this is to be avoided, technology innovation has to take fully into account the health
and environmental risks to which new technology may give rise. Serious and rapid
attention needs to be given to risk analysis and communications policy.
In order to attain the targets of National Action Plan, primary attention shall be
given to the overall improvement of the sheep rearing sector which includes the
following factors,
41
4.3.1 Breeding and Genetics
To increase the meat, milk and wool production per se and per animal, breed
improvement is the key strategy. There are several Methods of Genetic
Improvement of Indian Sheep, which includes the 4 step Action Plan with focus on
separate identified breeds for meat and wool production.The 4 steps are:
1) Breed Improvement of the identified breeds of sheep from amongst the same
breed but higher comparative genetic merit animal (example –Deccani sheep
for higher weight of meat per animal by selective breeding from amongst the
same species better genotypes/phenotypes) – that is pure line high genetic
merit breeding
42
Breeding Strategy-Sheep:
Natural Service
High Genetic Merit Pure Breed Low Genetic Merit same
Pure Breed
AI
High Genetic Merit Pure Breed Non descript animals with Low
Genetic Merit .
44
osteomalacia in adults. Mineral supplementation in diet is essential
to prevent this deficiency.
In India, the last few decades have seen a general reduction in the burden of
livestock diseases, except PPR as a result of more effective drugs and vaccines and
improvements in diagnostic technologies and services.
Meat production and supply of meat for local consumption is the most neglected
sector in the country. Meat is sold in open premises leading to contamination from
dirt, dust, flies and other pollutants. The traditional production systems and the
unhygienic practices have ruined and flawed the image of the Indian meat industry.
Indian meat industry on scientific and modern lines is need for benefiting livestock
producers, processors, finally consumers.
45
The following activities shall be undertaken to tap the domestic as well as
export markets.
46
(iv) Setting up cold storages: Meat is nutrient dense food which makes it
perishable commodity. In order to improve keeping quality of meat, cold
chain is of crucial importance during transport as well as storage till it
reaches to consumers. The Government should support setting up cold
storages, supply/value chain and 100% export oriented slaughter houses in
the country.
(v) Meat processing and value addition are key for the prosperity of meat
industry. So along with the production increase we can equip the farmers
for value addition of products to get maximum profit.
(vi) Integrated Sheep Development and Wool Improvement Programmes,
wherein to support different breed specific sheep rearing and
development activities and to provide support up to the marketing of the
wool produced. From that stage Ministry of Textiles will provide
assistance.
(vii) National Animal Identification System for Traceability
There is a growing worldwide trend for countries to implement whole-of-life
traceability systems for livestock due to the following reasons.
The system improves food safety, acts as a market export assurance program which
improves India's access to foreign export markets, and assists with disease control,
tracing and management. Farmers must register their property with their local
47
jurisdictional government if they hold one or more heads of livestock. As far as
trade barriers of Indian Exports are concerned, traceability of Sheep and Goat is a
problem especially, to meet the requirements of trading partners (such as the EU) of
Developed countries. So, National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is need
of the hour as we are intending to increase the exports of livestock products .
48
4.4 To transform Challenges to opportunities- Key areas to focus.
4.4.1 Role of Government in regulating/ co-ordinating a) livestock product and
input markets, b) land and water property rights, c) animal health services)
foreign trade in livestock and livestock products and inputs of feeds, drugs
etc. e) meat inspection and sanitary health standards, and f) provision of
information and advice.
4.4.2 Ongoing public sector livestock development programmes (applied
and adaptive research on livestock production and animal health
conducted by Universities and research institutes)
4.4.3 Review of public expenditure on the livestock sector. This concerns
spending on the livestock sub-sector in relation to total agricultural and
national development expenditure. Private sector participation, on-
Government activities (NGOs).
4.4.4 Specific issues-Environmental issues, Social issues (Livestock are
capital assets that may serve social and cultural functions. They have a
special role in religious and other ceremonies, participating in displays or
processions for instance. Increased demand for livestock for special
festivals, such as for poultry at Christmas or for sheep or goats at Id-el-Fit,
have significant impacts on local seasonal markets in many countries.,
4.4.5 Marketing and trade issues-with regard to the Sanitary and Phyto-
Sanitary measures to access export markets.
4.4.6 Animal Health and Welfare – Disease prevention and Control
measures,Animal Welfare( care should be to the transportation, slaughter,
access to the feed and water, handling/herding methods, culling or
disposal of sick or low-value animals and keeping of animals in
environments to which they are genetically unsuited
********
49
5. NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 2022
50
5.1 Key Objectives of National Action Plan
Based on the Opportunities and Resources and keeping in mind the challenges, a
National Action Plan is hereby proposed.The key objectives are:
i. To meet the increased demand of Products ie, the demand for meat is
increasing, thereby posing a great challenge to meet the requirement.
ii. Improving the farmer‟s income by increasing the productivity of animals,
which is a great hindrance in increasing the income from the asset and the
farmer is locked into a poor income vicious cycle.
iii. Having a more productive asset and even otherwise to fulfill the growing and
future meat/milk demand potential, Thus, to increase the meat, milk and wool
production per se and per animal, breed improvement is the key which would
at the same time help in increasing the farmers income as part of the
achievement of the vision of the Hon‟ble Prime Minister for doubling
farmers income.
No of Total No
additional of
Animals Animals
required No of required
(average additional to
Producti Targete Target of animals per Animals achieve
2015-16
Speci on CURREN d Producti year)to required the
producti
es Paramete T CAGR CAGR on by achieve the over 6 yrs to targeted
on
r by 2022 2022 target(millio achieve the producti
n) target(millio on over 6
n) yrs (66
million
as per
2012 LC)
242.4
Sheep Meat 4.9 LT 5.32 7.00% 7.5 LT 29.4 176.4
Million
43.58
46.5
Wool Thousan 0.16 1.00% 30.83 185 251
TMT
d MT
51
The National Action Plan envisages, increasing the Mutton production to 7.5
Lac Tonnes and 46.5 Thousands Metric Tons of Wool from the 40% non-descript
and 60 % population comprised with pure/graded/crossbred/exotic animals,
anticipated to be achieved through genetic improvement. At present the sheep
population is 66 million and to achieve the physical targets, an increase of
approx.30 million more animals per year needed over the plan period.
Under this program large scale field based performance recording program
will be carried out in order to identify elite ewes of each breed. These Identified
elite ewes will be inseminated with superior semen to produce HGM Rams for
semen Production.
It is important to note that the large scale field based performance recording
program will be carried out only in the native tracts. But the HGM Rams produced
from these native tracts will be send across India for semen production and use in
AI program.
5.3.1.2 Upgrading the graded Sheep with pure bred semen of that particular
breed
The graded animals will be bred with the semen of pure breed rams so that
this population can be converted into pure breds. The rams required for semen
production under this component will be sourced from native tracts of these breeds
as mentioned in the point 5.3.1.1
The graded animals available in the native state of that breed will be bred
with the semen of pure breed HGM rams. It is proposed to conserve and develop
52
these breeds only in their native state as they have limited demand in other states
because of the adaptability issues and varying agro climatic conditions.
5.3.2 To meet the increased consumption demand of Mutton and Wool, the
following are the key strategies
ii. Mobilisation of HGM Rams produced from the native tracts across India for
semen production and use in AI program.
53
5.3.3 Organization of sector and Development of Agri-preneurship
The Entrepreneurship in the Sheep farming can be increased by several folds
through different Livestock Farmers Groups/ Breeder‟s Association suggested to be
in line with ATMA farmer groups with 20 farmers in each group. Also, one of the
main goal of Sheep production is to increase the export of Mutton. To tap the
international markets, we need to keep the sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements
of the country, wherein “traceability “of the animal product is mandatory. So, these
commodity based/farming based groups will help for the tagging and other
identification procedures. These groups will also help for the co-ordination of the
marketing and value addition of the products as well as the animals.
6. Conclusion
54
This National Action Plan shall serve as a basis to the States and UTs to develop their own Action
Plans based on the agro climatic conditions. Accordingly, State Department can formulate
different modules specific to states in an integrated mode which could make an ultimate growth
and sectoral development, invariably contributes to the National and Farmers income.
**************************
55
56
Inputs Rates
Initial Number
19598746
of Mature
Does (#)
No. of kiddings 3
every 2 years
Proportion of
0.5
bucklings
Proportion of
0.5
doelings
Proportion of
0.1
does delivering
triplets
Proportion of
0.6
does delivering
twinnings
Proportion of
0.3
does delivering
single kids
Death Rate
0.1
(%/year)
Bucks death
0.01
rate per year
Fatten/Slaugth
er rate
0.2
(%/year) for
does
Fatten/Slaugth
er rate
0.7
(%/year) for
bucks
Population Projections for Sheep
Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Breeding
Ewes 19598746 19598746 42458723 65318700 114842555 171431541 282523920
Rams 5418580 4876722 12961541 20237879 36785536.24 61677382 105741777
Lambs for breeding
young ewes (0-12 months) 22859977 22859977 49523855 76187731.68 133952356.2 199957749
Ewes (12 + months) 0 22859977 22859977 49523854.51 76187731.68 133952356
young rams (0-12 months) 8572492 8572492 18571445 28570399.38 50232133.56 74984156
Rams (12 + months) 0 8572492 8572491.5 18571445.44 28570399.38 50232133.6
Total Lambs 70555486 70555486 152851403 235147320 413433198 617153548
Triplets 11759248 11759248 25475234 39191220 68905533 102858925
Twinnings 47036990 47036990 101900935 156764880 275622132 411435698
Single 11759248 11759248 25475234 39191220 68905533 102858925
Deserviced Ewes 19598746 22859977.3
Deserviced Rams
Dead Sheep 7055549 7055549 15285140 23514732 41343319.8 61715354.8
Culled Sheep 6349994 6349994 13756626 21163258.8 37208987.82 55543819.3
Fattening stocks
young Ewes 5714994 5714994 12380964 19046932.92 33488089.04 49989437.4
Young rams 20002480 20002480 43333373 66664265.22 117208311.6 174963031
Total Sheep fattened 25717475 25717475 55714336 85711198.14 150696400.7 224952468
Culled stocks ready for slaugther 6349994 6349993.7 13756626.25 21163258.8 37208987.8
Total sheep for slaugther 32067468 32067468 69470962.57 106874456.9 187905388
Meat Production(expected)kgs 368775884 798916069.6 1229056255 2160911968
Total Meat Production(tons) 7783367.481 tons(7.8 Lac tons)
As per NAP
Parameter TARGET Expected outcome
Meat Production 7.5 Lac Tons 7783367.481 tons(7.8 Lac tons)
7
459621691.7
165275033.7
329535899.9
199957749.4
123575962.5
74984156.03
1017086111
169514351.8
678057407.2
169514351.8
22859977.33
4876722
101708611.1
91537749.97
82383974.97
288343912.4
370727887.4
55543819.28
280496287.4
3225707305
Total Target and Production Data Production/year as per Production target(Million Mt)
Production 2015-16 Produn. Targeted
Parameter production CAGR Prodn.
Species (MT) (2009-10 CAGR 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-2021
TO 2015- (2016-17
16) TO 2021-
2022)
Meat 0.49 5.32% 7.00% 0.52 0.56 0.60 0.64 0.69
43.58
Sheep
Thousand 0.15% 1.00% 44.01 44.45 44.89 45.34 45.79
Wool MT
arget(Million Mt) Animals required to achieve production target(million)
Jammu &
2 Kashmir 22 2352 2352000 705600 2822400 705600 4233600 2116800
Uttar
3 Pradesh 75 878 878000 263400 1053600 263400 1580400 790200
ets =30:60:10
National Action Plan for Sheep -Expected Outcome-Mutton
Expected Expected
Expected No. of animals for slaughtring
Sl No State
Male Female Total Mutton Wool
1 Rajasthan 4418190 1262340 5680530 1.42E+08 8520795
2 Jammu & Kashmir 1481760 423360 1905120 47628000 2857680
3 Uttar Pradesh 553140 158040 711180 17779500 1066770
4 Karnataka 4822650 1377900 6200550 1.55E+08 9300825
5 Andhra Pradesh7773570 2221020 9994590 2.5E+08 14991885
6 Telangana 5555340 1587240 7142580 1.79E+08 10713870
7 Bihar 90090 25740 115830 2895750 173745
Total 24694740 7055640 31750380 7.94E+08 47625570
Technical Assumptions 793759.5 tons
47625.57 tons
Dressing
1 percentage= 50
2 70% of male and 20 % of female lambs born are slaughtering for mutton production.
3 Average meat yield =25 kg
5 Wool yield/animal/year=1.5 kg
National Action Plan -Sheep
Present Production
Production
Sl No Parameter 2015-16 CAGR%
1 Mutton 4.9 lac tons 5.32
2 Wool 46.5MKg 1
No of animals required to slaughter/
3 29 Million
year
Expected outcomes of National Action Plan
3 Population 31million/year
National Action Plan for Sheep
Total Population in the States Expected Physical
No of
rams
required
to No of
achieve rams in
Breedable Breedable
No. of the target each
Sl No State
Districts Male Female @ 50% station@1
male@50 Female@
success semen cost of
% 50%
rate station/di rams
@50% strict @10,000
slaughter Rs. per
rate animal,in
lacs.
1 Rajasthan 33 2066915 7012787 1033458 3506394 7013 213 21.25
Jammu &
2 22 1037648 2351837 518824 1175919 2352 107 10.69
Kashmir
Uttar
3 75 475335 878318 237667.5 439159 878 12 1.17
Pradesh
4 Karnataka 30 1928788 7654973 964394 3827487 7655 255 25.52
Andhra
5 13 3055192 12338712 1527596 6169356 12339 949 94.92
Pradesh
6 Telangana 33 2183477 8818202 1091739 4409101 8818 267 26.72
7 Bihar 38 89804 142663 44902 71331.5 143 4 0.38
Total 244 10837159 39197492 5418580 19598746 39198 1806 180.64
Expected Expenditure
Total
GoI share
Project
Establish @60%,in
Cost in
ment of lacs.
lacs.
Semen
Station@
122lakhs
@1/distri
ct
4026 4047.25 2428.35
Sheep
43.58
Wool 0.16 1.00% 46.5 MKg 30.83 185
Million Kg
242.4
251
4,552 2,550
species