Making a case for goat farming

'The country is fortunate to have a rich diversity of goat breeds', says the author

Rapid growth in demand and, hence, prices of goat meat and milk has made the commercial farming of this small, hardy, and easily manageable animal highly lucrative. It requires relatively low initial investment and begins yielding returns in a short time. Realising the potential of goat husbandry in raising the income of marginal farmers and landless ruralites, apart from commercial entrepreneurs, the Centre and many states have begun offering subsidies and other incentives for it. These sops, in some states, amount to nearly 90 per cent of the initial investment in goat farming. Special drives are also underway in states such as Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Goa, to promote goat rearing. Many states have gone a step further in providing artificial insemination services to help upgrade goat breeds to enhance their productivity and profitability.

Goats have a unique ability to convert even poor-quality feed, disliked by other livestock, into valuable meat (technically called chevon), milk, hide, and fleece. Their mouth, particularly its tongue, is well adapted to graze on extremely short and scanty vegetation. Their droppings form excellent manure, highly valued by farmers.

India has the world’s largest population of goats, most of which are reared on sparse foliage available in ever-shrinking and deteriorating common grazing grounds, farm residues, and household wastes. The country is fortunate to have a rich diversity of goat breeds. While some of them are meant specifically for producing high-quality milk, meat, or hair (such as Pashmina), most others are multi-utility types. Many of the commonly found breeds like Jamnapari, Surti, Barbari, Malabari, Sirohi, Beetal, Osmanabadi, and Jakhrana are dual-purpose breeds, yielding high amounts of good-quality meat as well milk. A well-fed goat of good breed can yield, on average, about two to three litres of milk daily, justifying its reputation as the poor man’s cow. Since goats can be milked anywhere and at any time of the day, they are also often referred to as the mobile milk-vending machine.

Goat meat is deemed to be the leanest among various kinds of red meat and is, therefore, in great demand in domestic and export markets. India is a major exporter of goat meat, along with buffalo meat. However, its share in global trade is just around 2 per cent, which, experts believe, can be stepped up manifold with proper marketing and promotional effort. The main destinations of Indian goat meat are the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Of late, Indian goat meat has begun to find markets also in neighbouring countries like China, Bangladesh, and Maldives.

Goat milk is closest to the mother’s milk in terms of nutrition and digestibility, though it also has a typical aroma, which many do not relish. More importantly, this milk possesses numerous therapeutic traits that have been gainfully exploited by Ayurvedic health care practitioners to treat various kinds of ailments and allergies. Strangely, however, not much scientific research has gone into exploring the full nutritional potential of goat milk and promoting it as a healthy and immunity-boosting natural food.
 

This lacuna has recently been sought to be removed by scientists of the Makhdoom (Mathura)-based Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG) in collaboration with the Karnal (Haryana)-based National Dairy Research Institute. A team of scientists led by CIRG Principal Scientist Pramod K Rout has discovered as many as 1,307 proteins in the milk samples taken from 15 goat breeds of different agro-ecological regions. These proteins and peptides (chains of amino acids) seem to play a significant role in metabolism (conversion of food into energy), immunity building, and disease control. “These proteins serve as antioxidants and help regulate biological processes and defence responses of the body. Besides, they also have antimicrobial properties,” Rout maintains. Interestingly, this team of researchers has discovered that the milk of goats in Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, and other Himalayan regions, belonging to breeds like Ganjam, Gaddi, and Jakhrana, have more protein and fat than those of the other parts of the country.

These studies, notably, have delineated specific proteins and peptides which play significant roles in immunity regulation, cellular growth, metabolism, and disease control. These findings have enriched the database of goat milk proteins, which has been fairly sketchy till now. The studies have also identified proteins for specific functions. The identified proteins and peptides can have several human health applications which can be gainfully exploited by the pharmaceutical industry. That apart, the studies have confirmed that goat milk protein can be of relevance for managing maladies like tuberculosis, Type-II diabetes, and some others.

However, though these studies have enriched the database of goat proteins and their functions in human nutrition and health management, more research is called for to take this work forward. Creation of awareness of the utility of goat milk can further boost the demand for this and make goat farming all the more profitable. 

surinder.sud@gmail.com