LIVESTOCK FARMING
Trading Losses
In a pre-dominantly agrarian country, little attention is given to develop commercial livestock farming that could go a long way towards alleviating poverty
By BHAGIRATH YOGI in Bhaktapur
Chandra Shekhar Sapkota may not be a typical Nepali farmer. But it would be naïve to suspect his commitment to practice commercial livestock farming in this predominantly agricultural country.
Sapkota first tried his luck dealing with the booming real estate business in Kathmandu in the late nineties. But as there was slowdown in the real estate business mainly due to the escalation in the Maoist insurgency, he decided to go for 'bangur palan' (farming of improved variety of pigs).
With an initial investment of over Rs five million, he set up a pig farm at Tathali VDC ward no. 8 in Bhaktapur district—some 12 km east of the capital, Kathmandu. After consulting with vets, he decided to raise pigs of Yorkshire variety expecting high yield. He not only provided employment for half a dozen local people, he also trained them in rearing fish at a pond and growing seasonal vegetables in his farm.
But he turned into a destitute person this summer. Dozens of his pigs died due to an "unknown disease" leading into a loss of hundreds of thousands of rupees. "I am devastated" he told us at his farm, adding, "I was more disappointed to look at the indifference of the authorities who thought that they had no job in helping out individual farmers."
Of course, some officials tried to help. Acting chief of Central Animal Quarantine Office at the Department of Livestock Services Kathmandu, Dr. Balram Thapa, visited Sapkota's farm upon receiving a complaint that an "unknown" disease had resulted into deaths of hundreds of pigs in the area.
"Upon tests at our lab, we found out that the pigs had suffered from food-borne disease, which spreads during the time of monsoon. We advised for administering of broad-spectrum of anti-biotic and to stop contaminated food. The situation improved gradually," said Dr. Thapa.
Though the disease has been brought under control for now, Sapkota is still worried. He wants media organisations like BBC and CNN to visit his farm, find out the cause of the "mysterious disease" and encourage innovative farmers like him. "But even state-run Nepal Television refused to visit my farm when dozens of pigs were dying every day," he said.
Commercial livestock farmers like Sapkota complain that they are not getting adequate support from the authorities and that there is no arrangement to spread their risks. "I am still committed to continue my farming though a number of my friends have advised to do otherwise," he said.
Raising livestock for meat or milk is a major occupation for hundreds of thousands of farmers across the country. It is also a major contributing factor in rural economy. According to the Economic Survey of 2006/07 published by the Finance Ministry, milk production from cows and buffaloes is estimated to reach 1.351 million metric tons during the fiscal year.
The total meat production is estimated to increase by 3.6 percent totalling 227,000 metric tonnes during the year. Of the total meat production, 147,000 MT is expected from buffalo, 2,747 MT from sheep, nearly 45,000 MT from goats, 16,000 MT each from pigs and fowls and 231 MT from ducks. "The production of meat from fowl has increased nominally due to spread of the bird-flu in Bangladesh and the import restrictions," the Survey said.
Similarly, the annual survey of economic activities in the country said that the total production of fish in the country is projected to increase by 3 percent in FY 2006/07 compared to previous year and reach 46,800 pieces. Half of the estimated total production is expected to come from ponds and the rest from the natural sources, the report said.
The 20-year-long Agriculture Perspective Plan, unveiled in 1997, identified livestock development as a priority output sector and said it had tremendous growth potentials provided that other sectors ( e.g. crops and high value commodities) exhibit rapid growth and an expansion of per capita income.
"Animal development activities are conducted mainly within the private sector and are largely demand driven. Therefore, the sector's development depends much on the private sector and on the rate of growth of per capita income in the country," the Plan—formulated by the then HMG/Nepal with the support of the Asian Development Bank—said.
Under the heading "Performance of Priority APP Outputs," an official document says that the APP expects the livestock sector's growth rate to accelerate from 2.9 percent in the initial five years before the plan (1992-95) to 6.1 percent in the last five year period (2009-15). Officials say farmers have started switching from traditional to more productive animals in the post APP period.
In Nepal, livestock rearing is much more predominant in the hills than either the mountain or Terai. In order to achieve its broad objective of regional balance, the APP aims for significantly higher growth rates in the hills and mountains. The plan targets per capita livestock GDP to grow from Rs 814 in the Terai in 1994/95 to Rs 1,268 in 2014/15 by the end of the APP period. Correspondingly, the APP has targeted per capita GDP in the hills and mountains to grow from Rs 1,254 to Rs 2,600.
Officials say the government's investment in the livestock sector increased from Rs 295 million per year in the pre-APP period (1996/97) to about Rs 537 million per year in the post-APP period, implying an annual growth rate of about 22.8 percent.
Though latest data were not available to vet whether the government did spend as per its target, it would be safe to assume that performance of the sector remains less than satisfactory in the wake of lacklustre performance of the agriculture sectors over the past few years.
Experts say with the increasing demand for milk and meat products especially in the urban and semi-urban areas, there is good prospects of livestock farming in the country. But it may not materialise unless livestock produce are linked up with the market.
"Tie-up with the market is essential," Dr Thapa.
According to Dr. Thapa, the role of the government should be to facilitate, demonstrate, conduct study and analysis, and help in project formulation for the farmers. Farmers, on their part, say their problems are multi-fold. They include lack of credit facilities, lack of improved variety of breeds, lack of quality veterinary services especially in rural areas and low standard of livestock extension and training services being provided by various government outlets.
Another problem being faced by Nepali farmers is that they have to compete with the agriculture produce subsidized by the Indian government across the border. "The situation is such that fish imported from Indian cities like Hyderabad are cheaper in Kathmandu than those produced in Janakpur," said Thapa.
But, again, in order to compete with the livestock produced in India or meet the growing demands of the marketplace, Nepali farmers have no other option left than to commercialize their production system.
"The time has come for our farmers to add value and adopt Good Veterinary Practices as well as Good Management Practices from Farm to Fork," said Dr. Thapa.
Until farmers like Sapkota are motivated enough to take up such practices, of course with the help of the concerned government departments, Nepali livestock farming – and the agriculture sector at large-- would be trading losses, without any gains.
