Research and development priorities for sustainable milk production in Karnataka

Abstract

The paper develops a typology of dairy production systems in Karnataka state and assesses the priorities for dairy development using the twin approach, yield gap analysis and generating indices of investment priorities. The yield gaps for the three types of dairy animals, worked out at the district level with respect to the best performing district, indicate existence of very high productivity differentials across districts. Among the determinants of milk yield, animal health and breeding infrastructure, existence of milk cooperatives, availability of concentrate and green fodder have significant effect in increasing milk productivity. The climate variability across districts also has notable effect on the productivity of the animals. The study used multi-criterion scoring method (congruence method) for normative allocation of the investment resources across zones and districts in Karnataka. The investment priorities suggest that across zones 40.2% resources should be allocated to arid/semi-arid rainfed zone, 44.7% to arid/semi-arid irrigated zone and 15.1% to humid coastal zone. The state needs to focus on resource endowment based animal breeding policy, productivity improvement through selective breeding, management of CPRs, ensuring nutritional requirement of animals and also management of heat stress.