WHILE foresters and policy-makers cry themselves hoarse calling
for bans and pointing accusing fingers at goats, the animals
themselves go on unperturbed, secure in the fact that for the
poorer sections, they are often the only means of survival.
The primary accusation against goats is that of
desertification, though all evidence points to the contrary. R M
Acharya, president of the International Goat Association, feels
that goats are not responsible for environmental degradation.
They, in fact, facilitate ecological regeneration of degraded
lands, says he.
This view was endorsed in a 1987 report by a high-level task
force constituted under C H Hanumantha Rao, eminent economist and
a member of the Planning Commission. The task force was set up to
look into the goat question because Rajiv Gandhi, the then prime
minister, was keen to ban goats. The controversial report,
however, opined that "sheep and goats do not pose a threat to the
ecology as is generally believed.... their negative effect, if
any, on ecology has been highly exaggerated."
Chandi Prasad Bhatt, well-known environmentalist and leader
of the Chipko movement, who was a member of this task force, was
violently opposed to the proposed ban. "Only people in Delhi can
talk of such things," says Bhatt. "In the Himalaya, they (goats)
are the main beasts of burden."
But policy-makers, Acharya points out, chose to have this
report suppressed. As pro-cow and pro-forest lobbies continue to
hold sway, there are hardly any inputs going into increasing goat
milk and meat productivity.
The degradation of grasslands and rangelands in India has
been primarily due to mismanagement and overgrazing by livestock.
Unlike cattle and sheep which graze close to the ground, thus
loosening the soil and rendering it more susceptible to erosion,
goats spend as much as 90 per cent of their time browsing. They
defoliate the smallest branches without damaging the twigs.
Contrary to popular opinion, their saliva deposited on bushes
actually enhances leaf growth. Goat saliva has been analysed and
myxatol, a fertiliser, has been developed using similar
constituents for use on tea bushes.
Moreover, as goats tend to move around a great deal, they
help fertilise the soil and disperse seeds widely. Seeds eaten by
goats germinate faster as their outer coat gets treated with
acid.
"The blame for encouraging desertification is heaped on the
goat because it is often the last animal to be spotted wresting
sustenance from denuded areas," observed R V Singh, former
director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and
Education, Dehradun. Drake Hooking, a consultant to the Indo-
Swiss goat development and fodder production project in Ajmer,
adds, "Goats are not the problem, people are."
Goats were first domesticated in West Asia by about 7500
BC. They were then adapted by Afghan communities and came to
India and north China via the Khyber Pass. What helped them to
survive vastly differing climates and ecosystems was their
ability to adapt to local conditions. As N H Casey, a South
African livestock scientist, pointed out, when drought devastated
fodder and agricultural production in South Africa, the goat
population was largely unaffected.
This capacity to adapt has given rise to a large genetic
variability in goats. There are 102 known breeds and numerous
less known ones, half of which are in Asia. India has about 20
indigenous breeds, while Pakistan and China have 25 each.
In Europe, the Saanen, Toggebburn and Alpine breeds have
been encouraged primarily because of their high milk-yielding
capacity. The Jamunapari is well known in India, as also dwarf
breeds like the Black Bengal, Banbari, Malabari and Assam Hill
for their prolificacy and early sexual maturity. The Pashmina
goats of Ladakh produce the finest quality of cashmere in the
world while the Sirohi breed of Rajasthan is very hardy.
Of the world population of 527 million goats, 495.1 million
(94 per cent) are found in the developing world. The goat
population has increased more than any other livestock species:
an increase of 21.16 per cent between 1979 and 1981. Yet, in
terms of meat and milk production, it accounts for only 1.5 per
cent and 1.6 per cent of total production respectively.
In the former situation, they are just left to graze in open
fields, while in the latter, they are tethered to feed on
agricultural waste, thus fertilising the fields in the process. A
goat can produce as much as 130 kg of dry manure annually. In
south India, especially, a substantial portion of the income
generated from goats is from "folding", an arrangement under
which goatherds are paid by farmers to get the animals to graze
on the latter's fields and make them more fertile with their
nutrient droppings.
Goats are kept usually by women and children. Women and
goats in particular share an intimate relationship. As C M
Ketkar, secretary of the Rural Agricultural Institute in
Narayangaon, Maharashtra, points out, often women prefer to
neglect their children for their goats.
Efforts are now being made in a number of areas across the
country to train women in goat management. B Nimbkar, secretary
of the Maharashtra Goat and Sheep Research and Development
Institute, Phaltan, has even got plans to get women's
cooperatives to teach women how to slaughter the animals in an
effort to make them independent.
Goat milk is an important source of nutrition for a majority
of the rural Indian population. It is an excellent supplement to
mother's milk: it is easily digestible and causes fewer allergic
reactions than buffalo or cow milk. Indians even consider it
superior to cow milk.
The income of the goat-owner is usually augmented by the
sale of the animal's meat, fibre and skin. The milk is primarily
consumed by the owner. The market for goat milk is very small:
1.5 million tonnes of goat's milk is produced annually and this
is only 3 per cent of the country's total milk production. Goat
milk is usually sold mixed with cow and buffalo milk. Hence pure
goat milk is rarely available in the market.
In Europe and the USA, goat cheese fetches three times the
price of normal cow cheese. Goat milk forms a soft cheese with a
typically "goaty" flavour, which may not be acceptable in India.
But, according to S Singh, a scientist with the National Dairy
Research Institute in Karnal, an acceptable cheddar-type cheese
could be produced if goat milk is mixed with buffalo milk.
Unlike in the case of cows, there is no religious stigma
attached to the slaughter of goats. In fact, about 540,000
tonnes of meat are annually produced in India. Goats' prolific
growth -- a female doe produces as many as four kids each year --
and the superior quality of the meat ensure that a high slaughter
rate is maintained. At present only a small proportion of the
world's goat population is exploited for fibre production,
although this represents the most commercial aspect of goat-
rearing. In India, cashmere or pashmina is extremely popular: 48
tonnes fetches US $900,000.
India has a 2.67 per cent share in the $40-billion global
leather trade, according to T Ramaswami of the Central Leather
Research Institute, Madras. This is largely because Indian goat
skins fetch a high price in the international market due to their
superior quality.
Indian goats have a dry matter feed requirement of 38 million
tonnes, as estimated by N K Bhattacharya, director of the
Central Institute for Research on Goats. Yet only 20 per cent of
this amount is available at the moment. With a minuscule 4.4 per
cent of the country's cropped area under fodder cultivation,
there is hardly any scope for improving the food situation, adds
Bhattacharya.
Given this shortfall, it is very important that the
available food is utilised to the maximum extent. Many experts
feel that there is a need to move towards intensified food
production systems, but Acharya warns that stall-feeding will
only be successful when people themselves are involved in
planning the programme. Mere exclusion of livestock from grazing
lands will not work, he emphasises.
Despite constraints, the goat population in India has been
increasing. In Rajasthan, for instance, it increases by almost 10
per cent each year. This is because, as Acharya put it, "goats
are the only livestock option there as they alone can thrive in
degraded and fragile ecosystems".
But the administration's indifference towards goats
continues. Mohan Hirabhai Hiralal, an environmentalist working
among the Gond tribals of Ghadchiroli district in Maharashtra,
recounts an incident when a senior government official visited
his village to persuade the tribals to sell off goats on the plea
that the income from the sale could earn a high rate of interest
(15 per cent) if deposited in a bank. The tribals pointed out
that goats reproduce so quickly that they return in a year almost
the entire investment made on them.
Given the importance of this animal for rural India, some
thought must be given to make goat-rearing more efficient. As
Acharya puts it, "There is no dearth of knowhow in India, but
there is a lack of 'do how' and this must change."
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