Market structure and the demand for veterinary services in India

Research article "Livestock services in South India" Kathiravan et al. Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee) http://www.indjst.org Indian J.Sci.Technol.

2007

Livestock has been an integral part of the Indian rural economy and an indispensable tool of income and employment generation to millions of poor households in India. A study was undertaken in Tamil Nadu (India) to ascertain the cost of livestock services availed by farmers. The districts of Tamil Nadu state were classified into two categories, viz., 'livestock-developed' (LD) and 'livestock-underdeveloped' (LUD), based on initial baseline developed. The cost of treatment of cattle was more compared to other species of animals with the similar disease condition. The mean cost of treatment of a chronic medical case in cattle at a public veterinary centre was INR 20.83, in which the labour cost alone accounted to INR 17.35, with the remaining amount for the drugs purchased outside. However, the mean costs of treating a chronic medical condition in buffalo and small ruminant at public veterinary centres were only INR 13.34 and INR 10.80, respectively. Cost of treating a...

The economics of animal health and production, 2008

This chapter describes the challenges of veterinary service delivery in an environment where most livestock keepers are smallholders. Studies in 4 states of India, representing different economic, social, market and production contexts, have analysed the distributional outcomes of an animal health policy. This chapter summarizes the results of these studies to illustrate the contribution that economic analysis can make to animal health policy.

Agricultural Economics Research Review, 2011

The provision of animal health services in India is by and large, under the domain of public sector and many health care activities like quarantine, disease management, quality control, research and extension, etc. are mainly the responsibilities of government. With veterinary services consuming about 60-80 per cent of the budget allocated to the livestock sector, fiscal constraints would lead to a decline in the operational efficiency of the government livestock services. Owing to financial constraints, some of the state governments have evolved specific animal healthcare policies tending to privatization of the system. The entry of private sector into the veterinary health care sector depends on the availability and sustainability of an economically profitable practice. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the willingness of the people to pay for providing the animal health care services. The study is based on the personal and focused group interview of 120 farmers selected randomly from the Sangli district of Maharastra. Contingent valuation (CV) approach has been used to study the farmer's WTP (willingness to pay) for providing animal health care services at government veterinary centres (in-centre) and at farmers' door steps (at home). The study has shown that increase of one unit in the income from livestock, the willingness to pay value increases by ` 43.23 for the in-centre services. When the farmer's locality was away from the public veterinary centre, the WTP value has been found to increase significantly for at home services. The analysis has provided evidence that the livestock owners are willing to pay for the quality veterinary services not only at their door steps but at the veterinary centre also.

2011

The provision of animal health services in India is by and large, under the domain of public sector and many health care activities like quarantine, disease management, quality control, research and extension, etc. are mainly the responsibilities of government. With veterinary services consuming about 60-80 per cent of the budget allocated to the livestock sector, fiscal constraints would lead to a decline in the operational efficiency of the government livestock services. Owing to financial constraints, some of the state governments have evolved specific animal healthcare policies tending to privatization of the system. The entry of private sector into the veterinary health care sector depends on the availability and sustainability of an economically profitable practice. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the willingness of the people to pay for providing the animal health care services. The study is based on the personal and focused group interview of 120 farmers selected randomly from the Sangli district of Maharastra. Contingent valuation (CV) approach has been used to study the farmer's WTP (willingness to pay) for providing animal health care services at government veterinary centres (in-centre) and at farmers' door steps (at home). The study has shown that increase of one unit in the income from livestock, the willingness to pay value increases by ` 43.23 for the in-centre services. When the farmer's locality was away from the public veterinary centre, the WTP value has been found to increase significantly for at home services. The analysis has provided evidence that the livestock owners are willing to pay for the quality veterinary services not only at their door steps but at the veterinary centre also.

This paper delivers five key messages: invest for better lives through livestock, improve sustainable productivity and competitiveness of smallholder producers, improve animal health system, improve resource use efficiency and minimize adverse environmental impact of sector growth through policy support, invest in people for sustainable development.

2001

Livestock is an important source of supplementary income for over 70 million rural households in India. Income from livestock accounts for about 15-40 percent of total farm income of the rural households. In 1997-98, livestock sector contributed a healthy 26 percent of total value of output from agriculture and this share has been growing steadily since 1970-71 when it was a little over 15 percent.

Bhartiya Krishi Anusandhan Patrika, 2021

This paper presents the results of a referendum-style contingent valuation survey conducted in one of the richest milking states of India. 200 households were surveyed to study the farmer’s preferences and choices for the health, breeding and insurance services. The objective of the survey was to assess the preference structure and the willingness of poor farmers to pay for veterinary health and insurance services. It is a comparative study between the existing situation and improved situation, that how the willingness to pay (WTP) will change if the quality of the health, breeding and insurance services will improve. The results show that farmers are willing to pay for assured access to veterinary services. Majority of the households value these services tremendously and are not looking for subsidies provided by the government institutions. It was noticed that farmer’s willingness to pay was much higher than the amount government institutions were presently charging for improved li...

In an economy like Bihar, dependence of population on livestock as an alternative source of income is significant. Acceleration in the availability of livestock to marginal and small farmers can offer significant opportunities for household income augmentation and employment generation in Bihar. In this context, an analysis of performance of livestock sector in Bihar has been carried out. The growth of livestock sector has been found slower in the Bihar than at the national level. The share of Bihar in India's livestock sector income has not changed significantly. Besides, low milk productivity, decline in the Bihar’s share in India's egg and meat sector income is a major factor responsible for insignificant changes in livestock sector of Bihar. Several demand and supply side factors have been identified for the above trends. Availability of health infrastructure, grazing land and immunisation are significantly affecting livestock across the districts of Bihar. The study has also shown policy initiatives for the improvement of livestock sector resources and outcomes of Bihar.

Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 2005

Increasing livestock productivity in mi\etl crop-livestock systems in South Asia. lnternatio~~al Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. Patanchrru. India. Ravallion M and Datt G. 1996. How important to lndia'spoor is ihe sectornl domposifiot~ of ecor~omicgro~vth? World Bank Ecor~omi~. Review 10(1).