Presented by Jimmy Smith at the XV Agricultural Science Congress―Energy and agriculture: Challenges in the 21st century, 15 November 2021

1. Better lives through livestock
Energy and dairy in India: opportunities in the
context of demand
Jimmy Smith, Director General
International Livestock Research Institute
With contributions from: Habibar Rahman and Vijayalakshmy Kennady
XV Agricultural Science Congress: Energy and agriculture: challenges in the 21st century
15 November 2021

2. Dairy sector in
context
Production
Contribution to national
economy
Projected demand
Current production
system

3. Dairy production
188 million tonnes of milk produced in India 2019
(almost all – 97% cow and buffalo)
This is over one fifth of the world production

4. 4
2.9 1.47
4.55 4.11
11.5 11.7
1
15 13.46
28.1
25.6 25.7
60.6
7.92
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Contribution of livestock in National GDP (%)
Contribution of livestock in Agricultural GDP (%)
%
Contribution of Livestock to National and Agricultural GDP
in South Asian Countries
Multiple sources

5. 5
India agricultural commodity values 2018
0
10000000
20000000
30000000
40000000
50000000
60000000
70000000
80000000
90000000
100000000
Milk, whole
fresh
Rice, paddy Wheat Mangoes,
mangosteens,
guavas
Vegetables,
fresh nes
Seed cotton Meat
indigenous,
chicken
Potatoes Bananas Soybeans
Current thousand USD
Dairy market India:
INR 11,360 billion in 2020
INR 21,971 billion in 2024
https://www.imarcgroup.com/dairy-industry-in-india
FAOSTAT

6. 6
Dairy demand in India
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
2010 2030 2050
000
M
tonnes
Source: Impact model predictions under moderate climate change in 2050 with assumption of moderate economic and population
growth, with thanks to Dolapo Enahoro (ILRI)

7. 7
Most dairy farms in India have less than ten animals
But produce 70% of the dairy
IFCN World Dairy Map Version downloaded from www.dairyreport.online ©IFCN 2020

8. 8
Dairy
production
Inputs
Land
Labour
Capital
Water
Feed
Energy
….etc
Outputs
GDP
Food
Income
Livelihoods

9. 9
Energy and dairy in India: opportunities in the
context of demand
• Maximize positive contributions to energy
• Manure
• Biogas
• Draught power
• Improve production efficiency so energy is used optimally
• Productivity improving technologies
• Institutional and policy context
• Energy efficient processing, storage
• Explore opportunities to better capture (wasted) energy
• Improve use of crop residues
• Utilization of manufacturing by-products

10. 10
Maximize positive contributions to energy
• Manure
• Biogas
• Draught power

11. 11
Manure
Manure applied to soil – Nitrogen content
(million tonnes)
world India - non dairy India - dairy
1.3 million tonnes of Nitrogen
applied to soil in India is from
dairy (cattle and buffalo)
18.8 million tonnes of Nitrogen
fertilizer applied
Opportunities:
- Improve storage and use of
manure to reduce nutrient
losses
FAOSTAT

12. 12
Biogas
One tonne of dairy cattle manure can generate biogas equivalent to ~125
kWh of electricity
Challenges:
- Small scale technology, financing, materials
- Information sharing and uptake (incentives)
Opportunities:
- Clean energy
- Digestate is still nutrient rich for soil application
- Lowers women’s workload (firewood, cooking)
- New, small-scale technologies are emerging to use biogas for dairy
cooling etc
https://energypedia.info/wiki/Sustainable_Energy_Use_in_the_Dairy_Value_Chain

13. 13
13
5%
70%
25%
Sources of Energy Consumption by Crop
Farming
Draught power Mechanical Power
Electrical Power
Draught power
• Although decreasing, estimates are that
there are 60 million work-animals in
India (almost all cattle and buffalo)
• Equivalent to 20,000 MegaWatts electrical
power valued at around 10000 crores (1351
million USD)
• India would require 6 million tractors
consuming 13 million tonnes of diesel to
completely replace the working animals
Natarajan, A. Chander, M and Bharati, N. (2016). Relevance of Draught Cattle Power and its Future prospects in India: A Review. Agricultural
Reviews 37: 49-54 and Phaniraja, P.L. and Panchasara, H.H. (2009). Indian Draught Animals Power. Veterinary World 2: 404-407.

14. 14
Improve production efficiency so energy is used optimally
• Productivity improving technologies
• Institutional and policy context
• Energy efficient processing, storage

15. 15
The win-win opportunity
Emission intensity and milk yield
FAO and GDP. 2018. Climate change and the global dairy cattle sector – The role of the dairy sector in a low-carbon future. Rome. 36 pp.
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA- 3.0 IGO
Doubling milk
yield through
better feeding,
genetics and
health could
reduce India’s
total methane
emissions by
25%

16. Yield gaps: technical, market and institutional
0
10
20
30
40
50
S.Asia dairy E.Africa dairy W.Africa beef W.Africa s.ruminants S'n Africa small
ruminants
%
potential
gain
from
interventions
Genetics
Health
Feed
0
10
20
30
40
50
S.Asia dairy E.Africa dairy W.Africa beef W.Africa s.ruminants S'n Africa small
ruminants
%
potential
gain
from
interventions
Mkt access
Input delivery
Staal, S., Poole, J., Baltenweck, I., Mwacharo, J., Notenbaert, A., Randolph, T., Thorpe, W., Nzuma, J. and Herrero, M. 2009. Targeting strategic
investment in livestock development as a vehicle for rural livelihoods. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – ILRI Knowledge Generation Project Report.
Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

17. 17
Energy consumption for dairy (cooperatives, private plants)
Dairy sector energy consumption 0.29
million Metric Tons of Oil Equivalent MTOE
(= 3.4 billion kWh)
1065 registered dairy plants:
- 80% small-scale
- Represent only 30% of energy
consumption
- Each individual contribution very small
Estimated energy saving potential for
typical dairy plants
- 15 to 20% using a mandatory energy
efficiency scheme like Perform Achieve
and Trade (PAT)
(PAT Scheme of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE),
Ministry of Power, Government of India)
Cleaning in place
13%
Utilities, services
32%
Processing
13%
Refrigeration,
storage
30%
Packaging
12%
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF) and CII – Godrej GBC’s

18. 18
Opportunities for energy efficiency in dairy
• Energy-efficient buildings: ventilation, cooling etc
• Milk cooling
• Renewable energy options
• Essential for food safety
• Options that work for small-scale enterprises
• Biogas
• Solar

19. 19
Explore opportunities to better capture (wasted) energy
• Improve use of crop residues
• Utilization of manufacturing by-
products

20. 20
South Asia: regional average feed rations
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
dairy cattle dairy buffalo
Fresh grass Hay Crop residues Sugarcane tops Leaves Bran Oilseed meals
Energy into crop
production
-fertilizer
-mechanical
Could crop
residues be
more efficiently
used for feed?
Are
manufacturing
by-products
being well used
for feed?
What about rice
residues?
Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate
Anne Mottet, Cees de Haan, Alessandra Falcucci, Giuseppe Tempio, Carolyn Opio, Pierre Gerber http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2017.01.001

21. 21
Opportunity: more and better feed options from crop residues
• Small changes in crop residue quality have a significant impact on milk production
‘..a 1% increase in digestibility of sorghum stover fed to dairy cows leads to a 6-8 % increase in milk
production…’
• Improve feed quality:
• Inclusion of feed quality parameters in crop breeding parameters (conventional breeding;
genomic selection)
• Significant increase in crop variety uptake, milk yields
• Improve feed utilization through processing
• Feed block manufacture
• Leveraging spin-off technologies from 2nd generation biofuel for deconstructing ligno-
cellulosic biomass (2-CCT = 2-Chemical Combination Treatment; developed by ILRI with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian
Institute of Chemical Technology)

22. 22
Would rice straw with a digestibility of more than 60% still
be burnt?
Possible with 2-CC
treatment?
160 million tonnes rice straw
At least 60% burnt producing
7,300 kg CO2 eq/ha/year
Wasted energy
inputs
Negative
climate impact

23. 23
Key messages
Dairy plays a major role in India’s economy and for the nutrition and
livelihoods of millions
Demand for dairy continues to grow
Along with the growth, improving energy efficiency: opportunities
especially at the feed-energy interface
• Maximize positive contributions of dairy to energy
• Improve production efficiency so energy is used optimally
• Explore opportunities to better capture (wasted) energy

24. THANK YOU

25. 25
Image credits
Slide 1, 2,23: https://www.tota.world/article/423/ ‘Bhaskara Ragaputra, page from a Dispersed Ragamala Series’, c.
1750, courtesy of The Brooklyn Museum
Slide 1, 3: https://blog.farmery.in/why-do-we-domesticate-cows/
Slide 1, 9, 10: Image via the blog ‘Naya Rajasthan’, 12 Jan 2017:
https://nayarajasthan.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/bhamashah-pashu-bima-yojana-a-boon-to-animal-husbandry/)
Slide 1, 12:Tribal art on show at ‘Adi Chitra’, Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, 2013, organised by the Tribal
Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India
https://energypedia.info/wiki/Sustainable_Energy_Use_in_the_Dairy_Value_Chain
Slide 1, 9, 14: Pichawai for temple steps, Gujarat, India, 19th century painted cotton
Slide 1, 9, 19: Rider and four-legged bovine creature, 1900s, Eastern India, Bihar State, Mithila or Madhubani
School, 20th century (Cleveland Museum of Art)