Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 91 (4): 247–254, April 2021/Review Article

[Link]

An overview of Indian livestock and meat sector

M MUTHUKUMAR1, B M NAVEENA1, RITUPARNA BANERJEE1, VIKRAM SINGH2 and S B BARBUDDHE1

ICAR-National Research Centre on Meat, Chengicherla, Boduppal Post, Hyderabad 500 092 India

Received: 14 July 2021; Accepted: 17 July 2021

ABSTRACT
Large livestock wealth coupled with strong consumer base fuels greater prospects for meat production and
processing in India. Meat sector in India is growing at 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and immensely
contributes to national food and nutritional security, economy as well as employment generation. Effective
interventions like using genetically superior animals for breeding, improved feeding and husbandry management,
reducing the mortality rate, linking producers to market, creating better infrastructure for animal welfare, meat
production and quality testing, minimizing the post-harvest losses, implementing food safety management system,
increased value addition and further processing of meat and byproducts, establishment of traceability and creation
of disease free zones and e-marketing will play key roles in the shaping the meat sector development in the country.
Effective implementation of both Central and State Government schemes and programmes is expected to enhance
quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock and meat production systems in a sustainable and environment
friendly manner. Further, strong public-private-producer partnership by connecting producers, input-suppliers,
service providers, financial institutions, retailers and exporters will reduce the risk and ensure prosperity of the
meat sector.

Keywords: Byproducts, Livestock, Meat and meat products, Nutritional security, Poultry, Safety

Livestock sector serves as an important source of milk challenges, opportunities, regulatory requirements,
and meat proteins besides providing raw materials for Government schemes and action points for organized meat
leather, considerable amount of draught power and biomass sector development in India.
that enriches the agricultural fields of our country. It
provides employment to over 300 million rural people and Meat production and consumption
contributes 12% of their household income. Livestock India has huge livestock wealth and ranks first in the
sector has contributed 4.9% to Indian GDP and 28.4% to world for buffaloes and second for cattle and goat
Agricultural GDP in the year 2017–18. Meat sector in India population (Table 1). India also has 3rd and 5th largest
is growing at 6% CAGR and meat and poultry sector number of sheep and chicken in the world, respectively. As
together contributed ` 2,51,384 crores, which is 24.08% of per the livestock census data by Department of Animal
total livestock sector output (DADF 2020). In spite of huge Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, between
contribution of meat and poultry sector as a source of food, 1992 to 2019, there has been 5.90% reduction in cattle
nutrition, employment and income in India, the large part population, while buffalo, sheep and goat population
of meat sector remains highly unorganized and constrained increased by 30.50%, 46.23% and 29.16% respectively
by various social, ecological, cultural and environmental (Fig. 1). India has also witnessed an impressive growth in
issues. Several policies and regulations related to the meat meat production, which has increased from 3.6 million
value chain including meat animal and poultry production, tonnes in 1992–93 to 8.1 million tonnes in 2018–19 (Fig.
transportation, live animal marketing, slaughtering, meat 2). India produces around 2.20% of the world’s meat
inspection, processing, export, retailing were made in the production. India has the distinction of producing largest
past and majority of these need to be revisited and amended amount of buffalo meat in the world. It is also 2nd and 9th
suitably in order to ensure sustainability of livestock and largest producer of goat meat and chicken in the world,
poultry sector (Kondaiah 2014). This paper address the respectively. The contribution of meat from poultry is high
current status of livestock and meat sector in India, (50%) followed by buffalo (19%), goat (14%), sheep (8%),
pig (5%) and cattle (4%) (BAHS 2019).
Present address: 1ICAR-National Research Centre on Meat, Meat foods play a very imperative role in human health
Chengicherla, Boduppal Post, Hyderabad, Telangana. 2IP&TM, by providing all essential nutrients needed for growth
ICAR Headquarters, New Delhi. Corresponding author email: and maintenance. In addition to quality nutrients, they
kmnmvs@[Link] also provide a satisfactory eating experience. Even though,

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Table 1. Livestock population and meat production

Species of Population World No. animals Extraction Carcass Meat production World ranking
animals (in millions) ranking slaughtered (M) rate (%) yield (kg) (MT)

Cattle 192.50 II 3.05 1.58 103.00 0.33

Buffalo 109.90 I 11.92 10.85 138.40 1.55 I
Goat 148.90 II 97.10 65.22 10.00 1.09 II
Sheep 74.26 III 50.86 68.48 12.00 0.68
Chicken 851.81 V 812.00 95.41 1.41 4.06 V
Pig 9.06 – 9.00 99.00 35.00 0.40

Source: Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India.

abattoirs are provided to meet the requirements of meat

producers, it will be difficult to tackle the problem of
unauthorized slaughter and to comply with regulations.
Establishing abattoir with modern facilities with line system
requires huge investment. On the other hand, huge modern
abattoirs established in different cities based on online
slaughter concept are lying unused. Hence, semi-modern
abattoirs which require less monetary inputs and operational
problems are more suitable for prevailing Indian situation
(NABCONS 2013). Slaughterhouse by-products except
hide/skin are unutilized/underutilized, hence there is a scope
for value addition for increasing profit margin (Muthukumar
et al. 2018). The treatment of waste needs proper attention
Fig. 1. Livestock population (millions) in India over different for reducing environment pollution and spread of infections.
census periods. Application of appropriate technology for waste utilization
can turn waste in to wealth.
India is the largest producer and exporter of buffalo meat Poultry meat is mostly sold by slaughtering the live birds
in the world and stands 2nd and 9th for goat and poultry in the presence of the consumers. However, there are a few
meat production, the per capita consumption in India still modern processing plants where poultry is slaughtered,
remains relatively low at less than 6 kg/person/annum chilled, packed and frozen chicken is sold in big cities.
as compared to 40 kg world average (Naveena et al. Compared to other meats, reasonable amount of poultry
2020). meat undergoes further processing into a range of value
added meat products like sausages, patties, breaded nuggets,
Domestic meat sector fried drumsticks and various traditional meat products for
India has around 4,000 registered slaughterhouses, 25,000 different markets (Naveena et al. 2018).
unregistered premises where animals are slaughtered for
domestic consumption. The slaughterhouses maintained by Export meat sector
local bodies for production of meat for domestic Majority of buffalo meat and small proportion of sheep
consumption, do not have adequate infrastructure for meat is being exported to 68 countries with excellent
hygienic harvesting of meat. The meat is marketed reputation for over 39 years and recorded as largest buffalo
immediately after harvesting as hot meat without any meat exporter in the world and 2nd largest meat exporter
chilling. Unless adequate number of well managed service after Brazil. Total number of export meat plants in India is

Fig. 2. Meat production (million tonnes) in India over the past 10 years.

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Table 2. Volume (million tonnes) and value (US $ million) of animal products exported from India

Name of the animal product 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Volume Value Volume Value Volume Value

Sheep/goat meat 0.0240 134.03 0.0220 124.65 0.0140 92.62

Other meat 0.0010 2.55 0.0008 1.96 0.0010 2.35
Dairy products 0.1020 303.00 0.1810 481.52 0.1110 280.22
Processed meat 0.0002 1.54 0.0004 2.00 0.0004 2.17
Buffalo meat 1.3480 4029.88 1.2330 3587.15 1.1520 3199.60
Animal casings 0.0120 50.68 0.0150 68.27 0.0130 56.10
Poultry products 0 85.66 0 98.16 0 81.03
Total 1.4880 4607.34 1.4520 4363.71 1.2920 3714.09

Source: Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

124, out of which 76 are integrated meat export plants. They other metabolic functions and are less digestible. Protein
practice strict sanitary and phytosanitary measures as per scores were between 1.40 and 1.87 times higher for the
International Animal Health code of OIE. These plants animal products than for the potentially human-edible plant
utilize all the slaughterhouse byproducts for production of protein. Herreman et al. (2020) established that the amino
meat cum bone meal, tallow, etc. and also produce value acid digestibility measured by the digestible indispensable
added meat and byproducts (Thota and Muthukumar 2020, amino acid scores (DIAAS) and protein digestibility
Bajaj and Ranjhan 2020). corrected amino acid scores (PDCAS) are significantly
In the year 2012, India overtook Brazil as a top bovine higher for meat and poultry products relative to cereals and
meat exporter in the world with a record export of 1.10 grains. Hence, animal sourced proteins must be targeted
million tones worth ` 17,400 crores (3,201 Million UD $) towards providing a healthy diet in a sustainable manner
(Table 2). Buffalo meat has been in the top three export without compromising ecology and environment.
items in the agriculture commodity basket. The largest
importers being Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Challenges
Indonesia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and UAE. India’s Even though the economic contribution from meat
buffalo meat exports have been growing at an average of production is increasing over years, the meat sector in India
nearly 14% each year since 2011 (APEDA 2020). United could be described largely unorganized. Kondaiah (2014)
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has predicted indicated that sustainable animal production, adequate
that Indian buffalo meat exports could increase in the infrastructure for hygienic harvesting of meat with efficient
coming years because of competitive pricing and quality. processing and marketing of meat and meat products,
Recognizing the enormous contribution of buffalo meat meeting the consumer requirements, minimize depletion of
sector in assuring livelihood of farmers, rural economy, food natural resources, cost efficient and environmentally
security and employment to millions, the Parliamentary friendly waste disposal are very essential for establishing
committee of Government of India has reviewed the meat viable and vibrant meat sector. Following section describes
export policy in 2018 and extended the same. few important challenges faced by Indian meat sector.
Lack of concentrated efforts in animal meat production:
Meat and poultry for ensuring nutritional security Inadequate availability of quality feed and fodder, non-
About 70% of Indian diet are cereal based and the availability of superior pedigree males for breeding, high
country is witnessing protein inflation due to consumption mortality and morbidity losses due to diseases, inadequate
of less than 17.5 g meat and poultry/day and 79 eggs/year marketing infrastructure are the major concerns in meat
which is far below the world average. Animal sourced foods animal production. Enhancing meat production to meet the
including milk, meat and egg provide many of the nutrients increasing domestic and export demand when land and
(Fe, Zn, Ca, vitamin A and vitamin B12) that are completely water available for agriculture are decreasing is a very big
lacking (or less bioavailable) in plant-based foods and challenging task. Meat production is lower in India in spite
thereby ensures linear growth, cognitive and immune of huge livestock inventory due to lower average carcass
functions, learning and memory, thyroid function and yield and lack of scientific approaches in meat animal
overall goal of achieving good health and wellness production. Unfortunately, the salvaging and rearing of male
(Balehegn et al. 2019). Compared with plant foods, animal- buffalo calves scheme (SRMBC) under the XI Five Year
sourced foods provide dense and readily bioavailable Plan of Government of India could not yield any benefit
sources of energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Animal- because of the prevailing rules related to slaughter. Animal
derived proteins provide a balanced profile of amino acids preservation act do not permit the utilization of young
that are readily digested, whereas plant-derived proteins fattened animals for meat production, which is a very natural
often lack one or more amino acids critical for growth and practice in the developed countries (Kondaiah 2010). The

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poultry industry is among the fastest growing sectors, rising eleventh amendment to rules under the Motor Vehicles Act,
at a rate of 8% per year. Vertical integration of poultry 1988, deals with the transportation of livestock meant for
production and marketing has been the major reason for slaughter and seeks to restrict their mistreatment.
increased broiler production. Most of the sheep and goat Nascent status of value addition and further processing:
meat production are with the unorganized sector and for Further processing and value addition of meat in India is
catching pace with the requirement of the expanding around 21% mainly due to processing of buffalo meat
population, there is an urgent need for expanding the (~95%) in export meat plants and processing of chicken
farming in the integrated mode. Most of the pigs are (~11%). These figures clearly show significantly lower
indigenous and are reared by weaker section of the society value addition of meat in India as compared to world’s
under free-range scavenging system with little input average of more than 70%. Because of non-availability of
(Mohakud et al. 2020). cheaper, indigenous meat processing equipment, the
Inadequate infrastructure facilities for clean meat existing meat processors are mainly using imported
production, processing, marketing and quality assurance: machineries. Huge cost, lack of trained service personnel
There is a vast scope for improving the infrastructure and and delays in import of these machineries are some of the
facilities at the service abattoirs run by local bodies to ensure important stumbling blocks for several micro and small
supply of wholesome meat to domestic consumers. Most entrepreneurs willing to venture into meat processing. All
of these slaughterhouses lack basic facilities for hygienic these factors coupled with other costs like creation of large
slaughter and utilization of byproducts efficiently. Similarly, scale infrastructure, manpower, advertisement and other
the majority of the retail meat shops have little or no basic logistics result in cost escalation forcing meat processors
facilities for hygienic handling of meat and in the aesthetic to market the ready-to-eat value added meat products at
manner where the present day quality conscious consumer higher rates. This again restricts the market to only affluent
could buy meat willingly. In case of chicken, live birds are populace and deprives the common man and the rural poor,
slaughtered in front of consumer and marketed through who constitute more than 70% of India’s population from
retail shops located in the residential areas. Lack of post consuming these value added meat products (Kondaiah
harvest processing and storage facilities is resulting in 2004).
wastage of valuable meat and byproducts. Due to lack of Under utilization of byproducts and improper waste
proper cold storage facilities, meat is forced to sell on the disposal: When an animal is slaughtered, only one-third of
day of production, many times at a lower price at the end it is harvested as meat and the rest comprise byproducts
of the day (NABCONS 2013). and waste. The byproducts of cattle, pigs and sheep
The increase in world food trade and India’s potential represent 66, 52 and 68% of the live weight, respectively
for higher share in international food trade in line with the (Muthukumar et al. 2014). These non carcass materials are
World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement especially on usually separated into categories of decreasing value such
Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barrier to as edible byproducts, pet food, animal feed or fertilizer
trade (TBT) necessitates the adoption of food safety depending upon the potential market. However, inadequate
measures. Many times, importing countries require quantity of materials, lack of markets, cost of processing
guarantees that minimum standards of hygiene have been etc. do not always permit byproducts recovery. Generation
applied in the manufacture of a food product or that products of huge quantities of wastes during slaughter operation,
do not have excessive chemical residues. To meet these starting from lairage to meat production stages in centralized
obligations, India needs to strengthen its regulatory slaughter necessitates greater attention to manage the waste.
framework. This process would include upgrading testing Despite the fact that pollutants of the meat industry are of
facilities to meet international as well as importing country bio-degradable nature, their management is essential to
requirements; upgrading human capabilities or empowering prevent public health risks, meet the regulations and provide
personnel in areas of testing, food handling, sanitation, and positive image to the sector. In the slaughterhouses regulated
personal hygiene; risk analysis, and development and by local bodies, though byproducts are being collected by
auditing of HACCP plans; developing GMP/GHP/HACCP some agencies for processing into products, but waste such
and food safety management system (FSMS) modules for as blood and ruminal contents are getting accumulated in
implementation at both domestic and export levels; and the premises and result in odor and pollution problems
establishing databases on requirements of importing affecting the image of the meat sector. Recovery of solid
countries (Shukla et al. 2014). wastes and their disposal through composting and land
Animal welfare issues: Unfortunately, lack of awareness application as fertilizer would considerably improve the
on transportation stress and its negative effects on meat present image of the slaughterhouses (Franke-Whittle and
quality, many times animals are transported in overcrowded Insam 2013). Organized facilities for small scale processing
manner. Proper facilities for loading and unloading of of some of the byproducts such as fat rendering, casings
animals, loading density, feeding /water arrangements, well processing, etc. should be provided.
ventilated and equipped transport vehicle with non-skid Prevalence of economically important diseases: The
floors, shed for protecting animals in market are necessary incidence of mad cow disease has not been reported and India
from both economic and animal welfare perspectives. The has been free from Rinderpest since 1995. The biggest

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concern is the prevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD). promote the Salvage of Male Buffalo Calves (SMBC), under
The FMD control programme is being implemented since the Entrepreneurship Development and Employment
last 20 years and systematic immunisation is being carried Generation (EDEG) scheme (DADF 2020).
out for susceptible buffalo meat export zones in different Huge gap between demand and supply: Expert
states as per OIE mandate of disease free zones (DFZ). committee of ICMR has recommended 60 g of protein/day
Control programmes are also being implemented to eradicate with net protein utilization (NPU) of 65. Without
diseases like contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, substituting vegetable protein with adequate amount of
brucellosis peste des petits ruminants and avian influenza animal protein, it would not be possible to achieve protein
(DADF 2020). But for most other animal-borne pathogens quality of NPU 65 in the national diets. A minimum
like E. coli, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., etc. requirement for animal protein would be targeted at 20 g
eradication of the organisms in most animal populations is per capita per day compared to the present availability of
currently not possible, even if good animal husbandry is 10 g or world average of 29 g. Besides, FAO has projected
strictly applied. Barbuddhe et al. (2020) suggested that by that poultry meat consumption would double from the
applying the principles of good agriculture and animal present level consumption of 10 to 18 kg/capita/year in 2030
husbandry practices and by improving the environmental (FAO 2006). Hence, the production level of meat has to be
conditions under which animals are grown, the hygienic increased to meet the national nutritional security through
quality of meat can be improved. meat.
Traceability: The regulatory system requires Change in food habits: Even though, cultural patterns
documentation tracing a food product back through the rather than income dominate meat consumption in India,
supply chain to its source or forward through the chain to the ready-to-eat meat sector is growing with consumer
the consumer. Department of Animal Husbandry and affluence. Increasing urbanization, family dynamics, rising
Dairying, Government of India has implemented income, increasing exposure to various mass media and
Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health changing food habits greatly enhance the demand for fresh
(INAPH) application which captures real time reliable data or frozen and nutritionally superior value added products
on breeding, nutrition and health of cattle and buffaloes in especially in metros, cities and smaller towns. With over 1
different states in collaboration with National Dairy billion population and 350 million strong urban middle class
Development Board (NDDB). APEDA, through its Meat and changing food habits, the processed food market is
Net offers health certificate to the registered companies for promising a huge potential to be tapped. Several national
each export consignments online. The new blockchain and multinational meat processing companies like Venky’s
based technologies are being developed to address the issue Xprs, Fresco Pollo, Suguna Daily Fresh, Al-Kabeer Exports,
(Prashar et al. 2020). However, the additional cost involved Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), McDonald, Mary-Brown,
in these logistics is delaying its implementation. Subway, Godrej-Tyson, Sumeru, Meat Products of India
Ltd., etc. have opened many quick service restaurants (QSR)
Opportunities and selling various value added poultry meat products.
Dairy and poultry industry in the last three decades have Demand for traditional meat products: India being a
shown how organized production and marketing practices wide country with large number of ethnic groups and varied
can help in augmenting production and to increase the food habits, varieties of meat products of indigenous taste
profitability to producers. The meat sector has to take cues profile are being prepared and consumed. Highly perishable
from the success of dairy and poultry industry to evolve nature of these products restricts their marketability. Product
into an organized sector. The following are some of the optimization, automation, improved packaging, branding
important opportunities need to be explored to organize the and upscaling of traditional processes will enable to market
meat sector. these products beyond the geographical borders without
Meat production potential: India can easily increase its marked change in their quality attributes. The Hyderabadi
meat production through buffalo veal production. It is Haleem is one such traditional meat product being airlifted
estimated that about 10–12 million male buffalo calves are and sold in various parts of the globe (Muthukumar et al.
removed from the production system due to non- 2005).
remunerative cost of raising them. Salvaging these calves Changing face of Indian meat marketing: The evolution
from early death and growing them to the larger weights of of modern retail outlets in several Tier-I and Tier-II cities
250 kg live weight would result in production of one million with better state of the art facilities for packaging, labelling,
metric tonnes of boneless buffalo meat of high quality. Meat chilling and cold chain will hopefully address the drawbacks
from such animals is tender, lean and juicy (Kondaiah 2010). of the existing situation. The packaging and branding makes
Export-oriented slaughterhouses should establish backward the fresh meat, marinated meat and ready-to-eat meat
integration with farmers for raising these animals by products available to the consumers in the most attractive
providing health, feeding and extension management form. Marketing techniques and technologies have shifted
services at farmer’s doorsteps and buy back them at consequently, more and more virtual e-commerce stores that
remunerative prices. The Government of India under the sell products and services were emerged. The meat sector
National Livestock Mission (NLM) has rightly chosen to which has a distinctive marked space all-time in the retail

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arena has also witnessed this change dramatically. Robust products. Registration with APEDA is mandatory for all
growth of online meat marketing start-ups in India shoot- export oriented meat processing plants.
up in the Tier-I and Tier-II cities with differentiated product
offering to satisfying their customers demand and Government of India’s Initiatives for sustainable livestock
convenience. Online retail channels are working hard to production
transform the inefficient supply chain and retail market The Government of India, since independence, has been
predominantly occupied by local butcher shops into an implementing several schemes and programme aimed at
efficient platform by quick delivery and response factor. enhancing the quantitative and qualitative improvement in
Most dominant players in the raw meat supplying are livestock production systems in a sustainable and
Licious, Farmage, Meatigo, Starchick, Fresho, Fresh To environment friendly manner, containment of economically
Home, TenderCuts, Neatmeat, Zappfresh, etc. important and zoonotic diseases, capacity building of all
stakeholders and enhancing livelihood opportunities and
Meat food safety regulatory agencies standard of living of livestock keepers and farmers, and all
It is of paramount importance for national agencies for round development of livestock sector. Following are some
implementation and monitoring of food safety regulations of the new initiatives and schemes from Government of
and practices for production of quality and safe food, and India.
also protection of consumers and personnel involved in food National Livestock Mission: Aims for higher productivity
production from food borne diseases. Few Government and production in a sustainable and environment friendly
agencies involved in ensuring the safety of meat food value manner and enhanced livelihood opportunities. This scheme
chain are explained below. promotes salvaging of male buffalo calves, under the
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI): ‘entrepreneurship development and employment generation
The FSSAI was formed under the Food Safety and scheme’.
Standards Act, 2006 by consolidating various acts and Pashudhan Sanjivni: An animal wellness programme
orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in includes animal health cards, unique identification number
various Ministries and Departments. The autonomous and national database, advanced breeding technology and
statutory authority has been mandated for laying down national genomic centre.
science based standards for food, regulate their production, Livestock Health and Disease Control Scheme: Provides
storage, distribution, marketing and import and also to financial assistance to States for control and containment
ensure availability of safe and quality food for human of animal diseases. The Government has also announced
consumption (FSSAI 2021). ` 13,353 crore 5 years package for FMD and brucellosis
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS): The National vaccination around the country.
Standards Body of India has objectives of harmonious Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund:
development of standardization, marking and quality An amount of ` 15,000 crore has been allocated in October
certification; provide new thrust to standardization and 2020 for incentivizing investments by individual
quality control and to evolve a national strategy for entrepreneurs, private companies, and farmer producer
according recognition to standards and integrating them organizations to establish infrastructure for dairy and meat
with growth and development of production and exports. processing and animal feed plant.
Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DADF): Mega Food Park: A scheme under Ministry of Food
The major responsibilities include matters pertaining to Processing aims at providing a mechanism to link
livestock production, diseases prevention and productivity agricultural production to the market to ensure maximizing
improvement and dairy development. In addition to playing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers
greater role in epidemiological surveillance of animal income and creating employment opportunities particularly
diseases, veterinary services also ensure the safety and in rural sector.
suitability of foods of animal origin especially meat through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
conducting ante and post-mortem inspection. (NABARD): Promotes sustainable and equitable agriculture
Export Inspection Council (EIC): The EIC ensures and rural development through participative financial and
products notified under the Export (Quality Control and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology and
Inspection) Act 1963 are meeting the requirements of the institutional development for securing prosperity
importing countries in respect of their quality and safety
through inspection, testing and certification of food items. State Governments initiatives for white and pink revolution
Meat and meat products, poultry meat and meat products, Several state governments implementing subsidized
egg products, fish and fishery products, dairy products are livestock and poultry distribution scheme on a large scale
some of food items for which EIC provides mandatory aiming to facilitate not only the economic development of
export certification. rural farming community, but also facilitate production of
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export sufficient milk, meat and egg to enhance the nutritional
Development Authority (APEDA): An apex body security in the state. For example in Telangana, the
responsible for the export promotion of agricultural traditional shepherd families are supported with the supply

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of (20+1) sheep on 75% subsidy with a total project outlay NRCM-Agribusiness Incubator (ABI), a pioneering
of ` 5,000 crores. initiative in the domain of meat processing, is serving as a
single window for providing incubation support services
Robust veterinary and animal husbandry institutional to the entrepreneurs in meat processing and developing their
network businesses. The ABI is functioning with the major objectives
The animal husbandry and allied sectors have a vast of generating employment opportunities and promoting
infrastructural support from the government of India. There viable enterprises in meat / poultry processing. The centre
are more than 11,100 veterinary hospitals and polyclinics, has established well-equipped agribusiness incubator with
22,000 veterinary dispensaries and 27,000 veterinary aid modern Food Safety Management System (FSMS) certified
centres. These institutions mostly provide clinical veterinary facilities for wholesome meat production such as primary
and breeding services. India has one of the largest breeding poultry processing unit (150 birds per hour), experimental
infrastructures in the world (48 frozen semen stations, 3,297 abattoir and value added meat processing plant, mobile unit
bulls and 98,283 artificial insemination centres) with total for awareness creation and marketing, rendering cum pet
production of about 81 million frozen straws per year and food plant and office to facilitate entrepreneurship in meat
62 million artificial inseminations. Veterinary education too sector. So far the institute has trained around 2,000
is gaining a lot of emphasis. The country has 13 state entrepreneurs from across India and commercialised various
veterinary universities, 2 deemed universities constituting meat processing technologies through more than 50 MoU’s.
about 18.84% of National Agriculture Research System. In addition to commercialization of technologies, the
There are currently 55 veterinary colleges catering to the centre is protecting those intellectual property rights through
growing requirement of human resource and their patent, industrial design, trade mark and copy rights. This
development in the country. The Indian Council of includes packaging process for improving the shelf-life of
Agriculture Research (ICAR) is the apex body for co- meat, meat based high protein and low fat meal maker,
coordinating, guiding and managing research and education process for making uniform, smooth and succulent seekh
in agriculture including 19 animal science institutes in the kebabs, burger patty mould, meat treat - healthy and yummy
entire country. and database for meat traceability. The institute is also
extending helping hand to different stakeholders, line
Role of ICAR-National Research Centre on Meat departments and regulatory bodies through consultancy,
In its efforts to contribute towards organised meat sector brainstorming workshops and policy papers, etc. Overall
development in the country, ICAR-NRC on Meat, the centre’s efforts are oriented towards achieving
Hyderabad has been working to address the important issues sustainable development goals (SDG’s), while ensuring
right from meat animal production, meat quality, safety to Atmanirbhar Bharat (NRCM 2021).
consumption. The Centre is playing a pivotal role for
conducting basic and applied research in various aspects of Conclusion
meat production, processing, quality control and marketing; In addition to assuring livelihood and employment to
developing appropriate and relevant processing technologies millions of farmers and livestock holders, livestock sector
for several value added meat products for improved immensely contributes to national food and nutritional
palatability and enhancing product shelf life; providing need security, economy as well as employment generation.
based training for scientific, managerial and technical However, shortage in availability of quality feed and fodder,
personnel in meat and allied sectors; establishing liaison non-availability of superior pedigree breeding stocks,
with industry, trade, regulatory and developmental prevailing economically important diseases, inadequate
organizations operating in meat sector; providing marketing infrastructure are some the major bottlenecks in
consultancy services to entrepreneurs. The institute has livestock rearing and enhancing meat production to meet
developed the protocols for organic fodder and sheep the increasing domestic and export demand. Successful milk
production and obtained the organic certification. The centre cooperative models and vertical integration of poultry
has developed the technologies for authentication of meat production and marketing must be tried in sheep and goat
species to address all meat adulteration issues across the sector with complete value chain approach. The way
country and has established the National Accreditation Board forward for livestock and meat sector development includes
for Testing and Calibration (NABL) laboratory and obtained building sustainable production chain, industry driven
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 NABL accreditation certificate. The collaboration to advance food safety and traceability,
centre has implemented Food Safety Management System agencies/government departments to link key-stakeholders
(FSMS) in its meat and poultry processing facilities and in a value chain, ensuring animal health, welfare,
obtained FSSC/ISO 22000 certification besides environment protection and efficient usage of natural
accreditation from FSSAI-Food Safety Training and resources, evolving a comprehensive national policy for
Certification (FOSTaC). The institute is also accredited by slaughter of animals and meat production system in India.
Agricultural Skill Council of India (ASCI) and is identified Animal sourced proteins must be targeted towards providing
as National Referral Laboratory by FSSAI, Government of a healthy diet in a sustainable manner without compromising
India for various meat quality and safety analysis. ecology and environment. This involves commitment from

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Government, Industries and stakeholders including domestic and export market. Proceedings of International
consumers. Positive public policy support and investment Buffalo Conference, New Delhi, February 1–4, 2010, pp. 205–
in meat sector can make them more competitive vis-à-vis 10.
other sector and sustainable in the long term. Kondaiah N. 2014. Impact of meat export on livestock population
and ecology. Compendium of National Symposium on
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