6.2 Performance of Milk, Poultry, and Swine Production^[26]

6.2.1 Milk Production and Yield Performance Across India, Thailand, and Brazil

Milk production and yield in India. Milk is an important and comparatively cheap source of nutrition in rural areas of India. Dairy farming, especially to smallholders, provides a variety of outputs such as milk, organic manure, draft power, and cash income. The farmers keep part of the milk produced for home consumption (liquid milk and milk products) and the rest is sold in the market. The milk production consumption and disposal pattern is given in Table 6.13. Smallholders produce only about nine liters per day while large-scale farms produce at least 55 liters per day. The average milk production per household has a direct relationship with farm size, and so is the percent share of milk sold. Smallholders in the western region sell about 88 percent of total milk produced, while in the northern region, only 68 percent of total milk produced is sold. Part of this difference might be desperate sales due to the need for immediate cash (as per conversation with the sample households interviewed). The share of milk sold was high among commercial farms mainly due to their larger production base and more market-oriented production objectives.

The average per capita consumption of milk per day is higher for large-scale producers compared to smallholders; likewise, there is a higher consumption of milk per day in the northern region than in the western region because of difference in dietary habits. In the western region, some of the farmers sell a large proportion of their milk to dairy cooperatives and in turn, purchase ghee (clarified butter) from them for home consumption.

There was no significant difference in the yield of buffalo milk between regions but there were variations across farm size (Table 6.13). The difference in the yield of cow milk was significant between the two regions.

Milk production and yield in Thailand. The average milk production of the total sample is about 293 kilograms per month (Table 6.14). The medium-sized farms produce lesser milk per cow than the large-scale and the small-scale farms. Overall, average milk production per milking cow in the older regions (Lopburi, Saraburi and Korat) is significantly higher than that of the new regions (Chonburi, Nakon Ratchsima, and Sakaew) (Poapongsakorn et.al., 2003). This may be due to a more suitable weather condition and better farm management practices in the older regions.

Milk production and yield in Brazil. Table 6.15 presents the daily production of milk in liters per cow. Surprisingly, small-scale farms produced more milk per cow on average than did large-scale or medium-scale farms. The percent share of milking cows in the herd is higher for the smallholders than for large-scale holders, probably because of a more specialized herd in the southern region where smallholders dominate. The daily volume produced varies by state, particularly for the medium-scale producers. In the southeast region, milk production per cow is lower for large-scale producers than for medium-scale producers. On the other hand, in the southern region, medium-scale farms produced lower milk per cow than did small-scale or large-scale farms. However, between small-scale and large-scale, the difference in yield was marginal.

Dairy production across countries. Yields per cow of Brazilian dairy farms are twice as high as that of Thai dairy farms. Indian dairy farms have the least yield per cow relative to Thailand and Brazil. Across farm size, small-scale farms in India produced lower yield per cow, compared to large-scale farms. In the case of Thailand, there was no significant difference in yield between small-scale and large-scale farms. In Brazil, smallholders produced a higher volume of milk per cow than what large-scale farms produced.

6.2.2 Layer Production Performance in India and Thailand

On average, layer farms surveyed in India produced 289 eggs per bird annually as reported in Table 6.16. Of the total farms, about 42 percent reported an average production of 300 eggs per bird per year, 45 percent reported an average production ranging from 250-299 eggs per bird per year, and the rest reported an average production of less than 250 eggs per bird per year. Large-scale farms produced 291 eggs per bird per year, higher than the average per bird yield of small-scale farms. Similarly, in Thailand, large-scale farms produced higher quantity of eggs per bird per year (273 eggs per bird per year) than what small-scale farms produced (263 eggs per bird per year). Within the period of study, Indian layer farms have produced more eggs per bird than Thai layer farms.

Table 6.13 Milk production, consumption and disposal pattern of milk in India, 2002

Source: Sharma, V.P., et.al., Annex III.

Table 6.14 Milk production and yield by farm size, Thailand, 2002

* Includes milking cows and pregnant cows that are off-milking a few months before calf delivery.

**Per day production was calculated by dividing production per month with 30 days.

Source: Poapongsakorn, N., et.al., Annex IV.

Table 6.15 Daily production of milk per cow, Brazil, 2002

Note: GO is Goiás in the Central West; MG is Minas Gerais, and SP is São Paulo in the Southeast region; the South region includes the states of Rio Grande de Sul (RS), Santa Catarina (SC), and Paraná (PR).

Source: Camargo Barros, G.S., et.al., Annex V.

Table 6.16 Average production of eggs per bird in India and Thailand, 2002

Sources: Mehta, R., et.al., Annex II and Poapongsakorn, N. et.al., Annex IV.