Improving Milk Yield Performance of Crossbred Cattle in North-Eastern States of India

Crossbreds hold the solution to the milk-deficit problem of North-Eastern states of India. The proportion of crossbred cattle in the region is 7.54 per cent (3.46 per cent of the country) as against 13.33 per cent for the country as a whole. However, the productivity of crossbred cattle has been found considerably low (4.8 L/day) in the region as against the all-India average of 6.4 L/day of milk yield. Yield gap analysis has been applied to find out the intra-regional milk yield gaps and the factors that could be addressed in the short-run to make-up the deficit. Based on the analysis, it has been identified that the major factors affecting the milk yield of crossbred animals in the N-E states are the technological and socio-economic constraints, which could be addressed by adopting improved management practices, better feeding practices, controlling of diseases and amelioration of the socio-economic conditions of the farmers through training, education and enhancing access to the funds. Addressal of these constraints will increase actual milk yield by about 66 per cent, sufficient enough to meet the deficit of milk requirement in the region. Category-wise yield gap analysis has shown that the highest increase in milk yield will be obtained on medium category households. The factors significantly affecting the milk yield at the household level are allocation of human-days per animal, expenditure on concentrate, economic status of the farmer and availability of the green fodder in the surroundings. While no major breakthrough is expected immediately, improvement in these factors would meet the milk deficit in the region.