Managing nutrient flows in Indian urban and peri-urban livestock systems

During the last two decades India has transformed from a largely vegetarian nation into a major consumer of animal products. However, surprisingly little is known about the structure of the livestock sector and related input and outputs. Growing demand for animal products has led to a major shift from traditional farm-based systems with nutrient recycling in associated cropping to landless commercial modes of production. Currently, most of the livestock and poultry rearing takes place in rural and peri-urban areas, which host around 95% of the country’s livestock population while almost 70% of the poultry production is industrial. In the dairy sector commercial systems of crossbred cattle with individual feeding and management is growing (27% of milk production) faster than of traditional, low-input systems with indigenous cattle (21% of milk). Buffalo systems (52% of milk) comprise a mix of commercial and traditional elements. Less than 30% of the total milk production and < 10% of the meat is processed. Small ruminant production systems are dominated by grazing and low inputs of concentrates. Pathways of nutrient and matter fluxes in livestock systems can be categorized in: (1) fluxes related to feed production, (2) transformation of nutrients from feed into animal products, and (3) fluxes related to waste management (disposal or recycling). More efficient matter recycling would require raising awareness of stakeholders, supporting cold storage to allow relocation of production from urban areas back into rural regions thereby strengthening crop-livestock links, and enforcing existing regulations for animal husbandry.