Making livestock product sector globally competitive

摘要

India is one of the richest nations in respect to livestock population and livestock resources contribute a significant percentage in national economy. However, there is still a great scope for exploitation of livestock sector because of lack of scientific and organized rearing, appropriate breeding programmes, lack of sufficient established markets etc. The implementation of WTO further necessitates this sector to keep international standards at competitive prices. The livestock processing industryespecially meat processing in India needs concrete efforts and direction to come up to international standards. Further efforts are needed for harmonization of Indian standards on livestock products with those of ISO especially in terms of regular monitoring and strict control of pesticides residue, veterinary drugs, heavy metals and other harmful substances including food pathogens in compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of importing countries. The major constraints of livestock processing industry include inadequate demand, poor quality raw material and lack of quality control. This paper reviews present status and challenges faced by Indian livestock industry in the era of WTO and suggests different strategies and approaches which need to be taken up to increase the contribution of this sector to the economy of our country.