India’s cattle and buffalo herds account for 14% of global livestock emissions, with methane as the main culprit.
Buffalo produce the highest methane per litre of milk, even though they now yield more than half of India’s milk supply.
Chronic green fodder shortages force farmers to rely on crop residues, worsening emissions and cutting productivity.
Innovative supplements, ration balancing, and better breeding could cut methane by up to 30%.
Smallholder farmers remain locked out of many solutions without sustained policy support and investment.
India’s livestock sector is at a turning point. With one of the world’s largest populations of cattle and buffalo, the country is also a significant contributor to methane emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gases (GHG). Methane traps heat in the atmosphere at nearly 28 times the rate of carbon dioxide, making it a pressing concern for climate change. At the same time, livestock remain the backbone of rural economies, providing livelihoods, nutrition and food security to millions of households.
This dual reality presents both a challenge and an opportunity. With the right mix of policy reforms, scientific breakthroughs, farmer training and community-led action, India could reduce emissions from its livestock while boosting milk yields and securing incomes for smallholders.
India accounts for roughly 14 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. The bulk of this, over 90 per cent, comes from what scientists call “enteric fermentation”: Methane produced when animals digest feed in their rumen.
Bovines dominate these emissions. Indigenous cattle make up around 36 per cent (about 142 million animals) of India’s herd, buffalo about 43 per cent (about 110 million) and crossbred or exotic cattle about 15 per cent (around 51 million). Goats and sheep contribute the rest (8 per cent or 213 million). Manure contributes only a small share, but is still an important source for rural households who rely on livestock for survival.
Exotic and crossbred cattle in India emit about 43 kilogrammes of methane per animal each year, compared with 28 kg for indigenous cattle, mainly due to their larger size and higher feed intake. Buffaloes, though fewer in number than cattle, produce the most methane per animal and per kilogram of milk, while poorly performing indigenous cows emit up to 44 g of methane per kilogram of milk.
According to the 2019 livestock census, the total cattle population declined from 204.6 million in 1992 to 192.5 million in 2019 (a 25 per cent fall in indigenous cattle), whereas the buffalo population rose by 30.5 per cent from 84.2 million to 109.9 million. This reflects a shift towards buffalo rearing for better productivity and resilience, with buffaloes now providing over half of the nation’s milk despite being fewer than cattle.
One of the most effective ways to cut methane is also the most straightforward, feeding animals more digestible fodder. Green fodder shortens the time feed spends in the rumen, reducing the methane produced during digestion. Studies suggest that making green fodder available all year could lower methane emissions by as much as 15 per cent.
But India faces a chronic deficit. By the government’s own admission, the shortage of green fodder is between 11 and 32 per cent depending on the season. Farmers are often forced to feed cattle on straw and crop residues, which are far less efficient and lead to higher emissions per unit of milk.
Ramping up green fodder production is essential for both environmental and economic resilience in India's livestock sector. However, impetus should be exploring options which are indigenous and sustainable.
Feeding livestock balanced diets that meet their energy, protein and mineral needs can make a real difference in cutting methane emissions from dairy farming. Field studies by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) show that simply balancing rations can reduce methane released per kilogram of milk by 10-13.5 per cent. Other measures—such as providing urea-molasses-mineral blocks, oilseeds, nitrates, or protein-rich greens like lucerne—can bring this down by as much as 16 per cent.
Plant bioactives, including condensed tannins, saponins and essential oils found in products like Harit Dhara, an Indian plant-based supplement, have also helped lower emissions by 17-20 per cent. Even small tweaks work: raising the fat content of an animal’s diet by just 1 per cent can cut methane by up to 5.6 per cent. Seaweed-based feed additives have shown even greater potential, reducing emissions by around 10 per cent in trials, but are yet to be widely used on farms.
The push towards sustainable livestock in India isn’t stalling because of a lack of solutions. It’s stalling because deep-rooted obstacles in rural life stand in the way. Even when new ideas or technologies emerge, they often struggle to take hold in communities where poverty, fragile infrastructure and subsistence farming still define daily realities.
One of the most effective levers for reducing methane emissions while boosting farm incomes is animal health. A healthy cow or buffalo digests its feed more efficiently, giving more milk or growing faster. That means less feed is required to reach the same level of output and in turn, less methane is released through digestion. On the other hand, diseases such as mastitis or parasitic infections drag down efficiency. They can raise emissions intensity by 8 per cent or more, because sick animals need extra resources just to produce the same result. When animals die or have to be replaced, the impact multiplies, as fresh resources are used to raise replacements.
Poor livestock health also eats into farm productivity. Lower milk yields, slow growth rates and reproductive challenges all take their toll and even low-level illness across a herd can add up to substantial losses. Better veterinary care, vaccinations, parasite control and balanced nutrition create a double dividend; farmers get more milk or meat and the climate footprint per unit of food produced goes down. That makes animal health central to the twin challenges of food security and climate change.
Structural barriers for smallholders
For most smallholder farmers, the problem isn’t awareness, it’s access. They remain stuck in cycles of low productivity because poverty, limited markets, patchy infrastructure and high costs make progress difficult. Extension services are thin on the ground, breeding programmes are underdeveloped and supply chains are unreliable. This leaves families vulnerable to food insecurity and climate shocks.
The government has stepped in with new initiatives, but real transformation will demand more: sustained investment, policy reforms that reach the grassroots and systems that allow climate-smart innovations to spread quickly and affordably.
Some policy actions are already in play.
Rashtriya Gokul Mission: Average bovine productivity has climbed from 1,640 kg of milk per animal per year in 2014-15 to 2,072 kg by 2023-24, a rise of 26 per cent, with indigenous cattle seeing an even sharper 39 per cent increase. National milk production has jumped by more than 63 per cent in a decade, hitting 239.3 million tonnes. Cutting-edge tools like genomic chips and sex-sorted semen are helping farmers upgrade breeds, while trained MAITRI technicians bring artificial insemination (AI) services to the doorstep.
Progeny and herd testing: Identifying and breeding from high-quality bulls and cows is breaking cycles of inbreeding. Milking animal numbers have risen by 30 per cent, reaching 111.8 million in 2023-24, pointing to the benefits of systematic genetic improvement.
Green Fodder Boost: States are supporting farmers to grow high-yield fodder crops such as sorghum and desmanthus. Together, they’re cultivating more than 2,000 acres and producing over 120,000 tonnes a year, often through localised seed support and pilot projects that build village-level supply chains.
Feed Supplement Innovation: Harit Dhara has been shown in field trials to cut methane emissions by 17-20 per cent. Work is under way to make it more affordable and widely available.
Strategies for livestock system transformation focused on genetics, feed, capacity-building and digital integration, each with key actions for climate resilience and productivity.
These actions together underpin improved genetics, lower emissions, greater resilience and better farmer livelihoods.
Methane mitigation in Indian livestock involves several feed and management strategies, each with distinct reduction potentials and challenges. Ration balancing and green fodder supplementation can reduce emissions by about 10-15 per cent, but face issues like cost, awareness and consistent supply.
Advanced approaches like plant bioactives and nitrate/fat supplements yield up to 20 per cent and 30 per cent reductions, respectively, yet scaling and safety remain barriers. Seaweed-based feed, genetic upgrades and smart systems offer promising results in specific breeds or intensive settings, although price, supply, infrastructure and breeding management present significant challenges to broader adoption
India’s path to reduced livestock emissions will be determined by rapid scaling of proven nutritional and breeding interventions; blending of indigenous knowledge and practices; institutionally supported and locally owned—making climate-resilient livestock both a necessity and an opportunity for the country’s dairy-dependent rural economy.
Abhay Kumar Singh is a development professional
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth