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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The case of missing bulls in India -Roshan Kishore

The case of missing bulls in India -Roshan Kishore

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published Published on Mar 11, 2016   modified Modified on Mar 11, 2016
-Livemint.com

As the country still continues to debate the beef ban and its impact on agrarian distress, data shows that what’s really being hit is the sex ratio of the bovine population

New Delhi:
Bulls are missing, both in India’s equity markets and in its fields. As the country still continues to debate the beef ban and its impact on agrarian distress, data shows that what’s really being hit is the sex ratio of the bovine population.

While data from the livestock census shows that overall bovine (cattle and buffalo) population in India has been increasing, two trends are evident.

One, the share of buffaloes has been increasing relative to cattle.

A cow or buffalo does not give any economic value after it has stopped giving milk and rearing calves. Maintaining it might require expenses up to Rs.400 per day, a figure used by various news reports published last year. A ban on cow slaughter makes it difficult for farmers to dispose of unproductive cows, while this problem is not there with buffaloes. A story published in Scroll had attributed the difference in disposability of unproductive cattle as one of the reasons behind the falling share of cattle among bovines in Haryana.

Two, fewer households rear male cattle and buffaloes in India. Data from the latest National Sample Survey Organization reinforces this point.

One assumes that like all species, cows and buffaloes also display a normal sex ratio in giving birth. But as an Economics Express column published in Mint last year explained, citing both historical and contemporary research, cattle rearing behaviour in India has always been influenced by economic realities rather than religious sentiment as is commonly believed.

Simply put, it is no longer economical for farmers to rear male cattle as mechanization has increased. It is tractors rather than bullock-driven ploughs which are used across India. World Bank data shows that the number of tractors per 100 square kilometres of arable land in India increased from just two in 1961 to 128.5 in 2000, the latest year for which data is available. One direct impact of this has been a sharp fall in requirement of draught animals. Since it is expensive to maintain a bull without any economic rationale, farmers would sell them off, with most of them destined for slaughter houses.

Amendments like the one that expanded the scope of cattle slaughter from just cows to include bulls, and calves, in Maharashtra might make such disposal difficult or less profitable. As The Indian Express reported last month, there has been a large fall in the price and sale of cattle in Maharashtra, since the ban has been imposed. The report also noted a rise in buffalo prices during the same period, which buttresses the point made above.

Please click here to access the charts.

Livemint.com, 11 March, 2016, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/zoXgL7pJ9RIBbKyjhgQ4yK/The-case-of-missing-bulls-in-India.html


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