Production and export competitiveness of meat sectorin India: An economic analysis

The results revealed that region-wise shares to total meat output exhibited increasing trends for all regions except the eastern region. The southern and northern regions respectively contributed the greatest shares to total meat output while the shares in the eastern region drastically declined. The post- liberalization period registered higher growth rates in total meat output than the preliberalization period. Meat output in India was found to be modestly stable however, the postliberalisation period recorded higher output instability. The yield effect was found to be stronger than the population and interaction effects as sources of meat growth in India. Meat exports were dominated by carabeef exports while the shares of mutton, chevon and beef were marginal and exhibited declining trend. The growth performance of meat exports has been highly encouraging during the post-liberalization period however meat exports were highly volatile. The NPC values for meat products indicated a high export potential, but these witnessed an increasing trend, indicating erosion of competitiveness. The factors that significantly influenced meat exports were institutional credit, government expenditure on animal husbandry, private investment in agriculture and Gross domestic product of the importing country. The study has recommended continued expansion of credit to livestock farmers to improve feeding and livestock health care and emphasis on finding regional markets for meat exports to boost foreign reserves from livestock exports.