SCOPE OF VETERINARIANS IN LIVESTOCK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

SCOPE OF VETERINARIANS IN LIVESTOCK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

Dr.Ajeet Singh,Veterinary Surgeon ,Global Veterinary Clinic and Surgery Centre, Gorakhpur

Entrepreneurship is a process of identifying opportunities in the market place, arranging the resources required to pursue these opportunities and investing the resources judiciously to exploit the opportunities for long term gains. It involves creating wealth by bringing together resources in new ways to start and operate an enterprise.

According to Higgins, “Entrepreneurship stood for the function of foreseeing investment and production opportunities, raising capital, hiring labour, arranging the supply of raw materials, finding site, introducing a new technique, discovering new resources or raw materials and selecting top managers for day to day operations of the enterprise”.

To conclude, entrepreneurship is set of activities performed by the entrepreneur. Thus, entrepreneur proceeds entrepreneurship.Entrepreneur associated to livestock farming / business, production of raw materials related to livestock farms and livestock related processing industries is considered as livestock entrepreneur.In other terms, a person who is linked directly or indirectly to the animal husbandry or livestock sector is referred as livestock entrepreneur.

The demand for animal sourced foods (ASF) is increasing both quantitatively and qualitatively. During the past five years, the milk and meat sectors are growing at about six percent, annually. The government of India is now pegging on livestock to increase the economy from the current value of US $ 3 trillion to US $ 5 trillion by the year 2025. Under “Make in Rural India Initiative” NDDB will provide the financial assistance to private dairy units for processing in order to double the milk processing capacity by the year 2025, increasing the outreach in the unexplored market and improving milk quality at the milk collection centres. Besides this Government of India is also taking measures to improve the meat and egg production through small ruminants and backyard poultry since the growth rate in meat and egg sector is more than 5 and 10 percent, respectively. The policy announced by the Prime Minister of India on decentralized food production and processing systems is a great opportunity for generation of the employment in rural India besides better lives for livestock owning farmers through promotion of micro and small entrepreneurship in livestock sector in rural India. Hence, the proposed training program is designed to share knowledge and technologies in milk, meat and egg production and processing, improving the efficiencies of livestock production systems, products making, financing, marketing and branding the products so as to promote entrepreneurship in rural livestock sector for employment generation and double the farmers income and helping the Indian economy to become US $ 5 trillion by the year 2025.

 

AVENUES OF LIVESTOCK ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Livestock Farms
  • The veterinarians can start their own livestock farms with their vast technical knowledge; they can infuse scientific management techniques in their own farms. In the WTO (World Trade Organisation) era, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and SPS (Sanitory and Phytosanitory) measures are of great importance for export of livestock commodities, as the emphasis in international trade is on quality and food safety. If veterinarians start their own scientifically managed livestock enterprise, they can exploit this opportunity. Further, practicing proven scientific management techniques will improve productivity of animals that would lead to overall quantitative and qualitative improvement of livestock sector.
• Feed Manufacturer
  • The veterinary graduates can start their own feed mill units for various livestock and poultry species. Commercial feed availability for various unconventional poultry species such as Quail, Emu, Ostrich, etc. are far less than the demand. Manufacturing feed for these species is a niche business as their energy requirement is different from the existing commercially available broiler or layer feed.
• Fodder Supplier
  • The main constraint which hampers the growth of livestock production is the inadequacy of nutritious fodder. As there is more than 60% fodder deficit in India, veterinarians can combine together, purchase fertile land and produce quality fodder and supply them to the nearby livestock farmers. They can also start seed / fodder banks in the potential areas.

 

• Farm Equipments manufacturer / Dealer
  • Number of farm equipments are needed for livestock farms. For example, in case of dairy farms, chaff cutter, milking machine, feeding manager, etc. are needed. Poultry farmers need debeaker, vaccinator, automatic feeder, waterer, etc. Demand for farm equipments increases with the wide adoptation of intensive livestock and poultry farming system. The veterinarians can either start on their own or they can act as dealer for these equipments.
• Dog breeder
  • Dog breeding is an ever green field with potential opportunities in urban areas. Dogs with good pedigree record fetches good price and the veterinarians can readily exploit this opportunity. Combining dog breeding with veterinary consultancy services offer excellent earning opportunity.
• Hatchery
  • Though starting a hatchery requires higher investment, it offers good return.
• Pet Animal / Large Animal/ Mobile Clinic:
  • It is the widely practiced by the veterinarians which offer them good earnings in both rural as well as urban areas.
• Livestock products processor
  • Value addition to the livestock products such as milk, egg, meat, and fish have huge profit potential. Value of the products get increased many folds during processing, and thereby provide excellent returns. Veterinarians can start milk parlour, where they can sell processed milk and milk products like flavoured milk, goa, ice cream, etc. or meat centre where fried chicken, chicken 65, mutton khima, etc. could be sold. Marketing of these value added products could be done in their own brand name and they can start chain of parlours / hotels later.
• Farm consultant
  • Livestock farm consultant is a lucrative avenue. Veterinarians with skill and knowledge can earn well in specialized dairy farms, stud farms, breeder farms, hatchery, sheep / goat farms. After some years of experience in managing the farms, they can start their own farms independently or with partnerships.
• Contract Farming
  • Contract farming is a emerging system where the livestock farmers are given all the inputs such as chicks/animals, feed, medicines, technical inputs, etc. Farmers have to rear the chicks/animals and the integrator will take care of the marketing activities. Veterinarians can join together and venture into contract farming. Being technical savvy would help them in getting loans, maintaining farm business and marketing the products.
• Leather Industry
  • Leather industry is so far unexplored by the Veterinarians. It offers great profit potential. The skin and hide from animals are usually purchased by the intermediaries in the villages at a throw away prices and are sold to the processors at a huge margin. The processors add value to the raw skin and make products and export / sell them at a very high price. The veterinarians can perform the role of this intermediaries.
• Agents for by products utilization
  • The livestock feed manufacturers and pharmaceuticals require several ingredients such as bone meal, fish meal, blood meal etc. which they are getting from the agents at contract basis. Here, veterinarians can make interventions. They can make a tie-up and could meet the requirements of feed manufacturers at a reasonable price and also can earn money.
• Veterinary Pharmaceutical Industry
  • It is also a lucrative opportunity but needs huge investment. After working some years in the pharmaceutical industry and learning experience, veterinarians can initially start a small one with fewer drugs which can be expanded later to the needs of local farmers. From thereon, they can grow slowly.

 

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR VETERINARIANS

Apart from the above avenues, there are vast employment opportunities available to the Veterinarians. Some of them are listed below:

• Government Veterinary Doctors
• Amul / Aavin milk plants – Manager / Doctors
• Meat Inspector – in Corporations
• Education – Assistant Professors in various Universities
• Insurance Companies – Technical Officers
• Eco-jobs such as Wild life ecologist, Conservation scientist etc.,
• Central and State Civil Services
• Clinical data management-It is an emerging field which was hitherto unexplored. There is a lot of demand for Veterinary graduates in IT industry in clinical data management domain.
• Private practice
• There is a greater demand for veterinarians in foreign countries as farm consultant , scientists etc.,
• Scientists in ICAR and other government departments
• Researchers in Private, Central, State and International research institutions
• Private sector jobs such as Veterinary /Technical officer/Marketing executives in dairy, poultry, equine and pharmaceutical sectors
• Extension Agents in NGO’s
• Military Service – Remount Veterinary Corps in Indian army
• Bank – Technical Officers
• Services for Livestock Business such as Transport, Cold Storage, Quality Inspection and Certification etc.,

Options after BVSc & AH:

multiple opportunities available

Pursuing MVSc (vast range of subjects / disciplines) Masters in Agri-business management

Opening private Pet and Large animal clinics

JRF / Teaching personnel

PG studies in foreign countries

Job in Animal welfare organisations

Working as Vet Officer in AH Department, various State Governments

Working in Vet pharma and animal nutrition companies

Working as JRF in Research Project or Teaching Personnel (use this option if you want to be financially independent and want to gain research or teaching experience, may also prepare for JRF Exam simultaneously for next year)

Working for Animal Welfare Organisations such as Brookes Hospital for Equines, SPCA or other NGOs (gain specialised experience in equines, pets and other animals) – especially surgical work like Animal Birth Control Can open your own pet clinic / large animal practice / mixed depending on the location of the clinic

 

1. State Government
2. a) Veterinary Hospitals / Primary Veterinary Centers
   b) Organised State Farms for managing livestock farms.
   c) Semen collection Banks/Sperm collection Stations – where quality bulls or males are kept. Semen is collected and processed for artificial insemination.
   d) Poultry Farms – for managing egg farms, hatcheries, chick rearing units.
   e) Meat / Milk / Animal products processing plants– for supervising of hygienic collection & distribution of milk or meat or other animal products meant to be consumed by human.
   f) Polyclinics – where specialised service like surgery, special diagnostics, specialised treatment etc. is given.
   g) Disease investigation centers or Disease diagnostic centers – These are established by government and job in such centers is to survey disease profile and investigate any occurrence of a major disease, zoonoses, epidemics etc.
   h) Biological products or vaccine institutions – prepare quality control & distribute vaccines & biologicals.
   i) Disease eradication schemes/ check posts/vaccination camps.
   j) Public health labs – investigation of disease transmissible from animals to man and vice versa.
3. Centralised Sectors
4. a) Remount Veterinary Corps – RVC – In army / armed forces there are posts or jobs for veterinarians to train and look after Horses, dogs camel etc.
   b) Border security forces (BSF)/ Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) or police – to look after Horses, dogs, camels etc. in the forces / Intelligence or for the post of Assistant Commandant or equivalent post.
   c) I.C.A.R. (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) – co-ordination and funding of animal based research / projects.
   d) Animal Husbandry & Dairying Department, Ministry of Agriculture – They need veterinarians for administrative management & coordination of veterinary services in the states and implementation and formation of policies.
   e) Quarantine Units – these are international check posts for preventing entry of exotic disease in the nation like mad cow disease or fowl influenza in country from outside by importing or transporting animals.
   f) Central Farms – Unlike state farms & sperm collection centers or stations; they also conduct trainings.
5. g) Medical institutions: as a veterinary officer (post graduation in public health or competent subject may be necessary)
6. h) Civil services and public services: Apart from these posts, many veterinary graduates these days write the state group I exams and the UPSC exams to become administrators like IAS, IPS, IRS as well as Dept. Supt. Police and equivalent jobs through competitive exams.
7. 
   Academic/Research/Extension Wing of Veterinary Colleges in State Agricultural universities, State Veterinary Universities, or Universities having Veterinary Faculty.
8. a) Teaching/Research/Extension in Veterinary College/Institutes/Universities.
   b) Para Veterinary Staff / Live Stock Assistant training schools.
   c) Experimental & germ free animal facilities attached to Veterinary & Medical Institutions or colleges, Drug research institutions.
   d) Experimental Animal Unit – require vets for Animal model preparation for experiments etc.
   e) Clinical, diagnostic & investigation centers or labs established in veterinary colleges and research institutes.
9. 
   Local Bodies/Municipalities/Panchayats
10. a) Slaughter houses/Cattle Pounds/Public health Laboratories
    b) Zoos & wildlife centers
    c) Animal resource development under Panchayati Raj.

 

5. Private Sector
6. a) Pharmaceuticals
   b) Commercial dairy farms
   c) Commercial poultry farms
   d) Commercial breeding farms/hatchery etc.
   e) Race club, stud farms
   f) Veterinary instruments/equipment industry
   g) Biological products and vaccine product plants
   h) Insurance companies, banks – as probationary officer
   i) Corporate bodies eg. National Dairy Development Board, Cooperative dairies, Milk board, Milk Unions etc
   j) Feed processing industry
   k) NGOs – as investigator, chief investigator and field veterinarian.

* MBA in Agri-business management from a good institute may help in getting a job and good salary in private sector like insurance companies and pharmaceuticals.

6. 
   Self Employment
7. a) Private Practice – Companion animal veterinarian (Pet clinic) / Large animal or food animal veterinarian
   b) Consultancy
   c) Partner, Assisting to an existing Practitioners.
   d) Entrepreneur in Livestock Farms, Dairy Farms, Poultry Farms, Goat Farms, Piggeries, Dog Breeding etc.
   e) Diagnostic labs (Pathology, Biochemistry, Microbiology)
   f) X-ray, Ultra-sound facility.
8. g) Media – as a freelance worker, blogger or scientific article writer, proof reader etc (part time income source – Less stability)
9. h) Animal law expert (Courses are available)

 

7. Abroad

You can choose from working as a veterinarian or faculty in institutes or fellow in research programs (You will have to fulfil eligibility criteria and clear exams like TOEFL GRE etc. for this, working permit or visa will also be required). Early planning is necessary and proper strategy will help.

 

CLIENTS’ EXPECTATIONS FROM VETERINARIANS

 

In the face of unprecedented competition, the veterinarian and his/her team must provide their patients and clients the best scope of medical and surgical care but also a variety of services and products. For some veterinarians, these services and products are not considered to be ‘ethical’ or part of their responsibility. However in the eyes of the owners, the veterinarian is the expert, so it is quite normal and ‘expected’ that he or she would fulfill these needs. The ‘animal doctor’ is expected to propose such services or products. However, it is well known that there is a potential cultural conflict. Most veterinarians will mention that they have not studied medicine and surgery to ‘sell dog food, or shampoos’. In such case, the barrier is the veterinarian, not the owner.

Expectations & needs

• There are several kinds of expectations. Those who are expressed or so-called ‘explicit’ and those who are not expressed by the customers or so-called ‘implicit’ expectations. It is quite important to know what are the client’s implicit expectations since by definitionthese will not be mentioned by people. A perfect example is the fact that people expect the personnel and staff in a veterinary clinic to have a ‘professional medical look’ (white or medical types of clothes), if it is not the case, people may be surprised or even upset, but they will not mention it. It is implicit for them. Veterinarians specifically need to have a good understanding of that category of expectations. Some classical implicit expectations of the consumers include:
  • Availability (no wait, flexible hours, easy access & parking, sufficient stock, etc.)
  • Patience (Clients expect their doctor to be patient with them, allow sufficient time for them)
  • Explanatory (Answering the questions calmly, not avoiding them, clarify their doubts and explains even the minute details)
  • Transparency (prices should be clearly marked; invoices should be itemized, etc.)
  • Choice (various products and services, ‘freedom of choice’, etc.)
  • Environment (comfortable, neat, clean, odourless, friendly, modern, etc.)
  • Clarity of the offer (prices listed, estimations, badges, etc.)
  • Services (various services adapted to their needs as pet owners)
• Various surveys have shown that what clients were looking for in a veterinarian was by order of importance his or her:
  • kindness
  • affordability
  • availability
  • patience to listen
  • his or her competency
  • approach
• Measuring client satisfaction in a practice can help maintain a more stable, satisfied client base. Satisfaction will often be a measure of client perception of quality. The highly satisfied client will feel they have received a high quality service, whereas the dissatisfied client will be disappointed by the quality of service.
• Client service is the ability to meet client requirements. Services are experienced, and veterinarians, as service providers, are as much in managing the client’s experience as in providing technical expertise.
• “Any business that wants to succeed must be aware of its customer’s requirements. Failure to do so is a missed opportunity to satisfy client needs and to maximize profits. Many practitioners are focused on the medical and technical issues. They do not realize that their services do not match necessarily what their clients expect and do not listento them.

OPPORTUNITY IN DAIRY SECTOR

Dairy sector in India plays an important role in the national economy and in the socio- economic development of the country. It has a significant role in supplementary family income and generating employment in the rural areas, particularly among the landless, small, marginal farmers and farm women, besides providing cheap and nutritious food to millions of people. More importantly small and marginal farmers account for three-quarters of these households. Income from livestock production accounts for 14-15% of total farmhouse holds income in different states. Thus, an increase in demand for livestock products can be a major factor in raising the income and living standard of rural households.

The majority of rural dairy farmers need support for building up their capacity development through entrepre-neurial training programme which help them to upgrade their knowledge and create confidence in their endeavour in the existing farming system.

The modern thoughts of entrepreneurial training demand through understanding about science of andragogy which treats learners as active and co-partner in learning. Thus designing of training must be governed by a systematic process. It must ensure that participants are treated as co-equal and have opportunity of dialogue and action. Trainers must acts as facilitators. Training session must flow naturally with the active involvement of participants to help them acquire abilities needed to become entrepreneurs. The emphasis of training needs to be on practical and element of flexibility. Continuous negotiation with participants should be the rule than exception.

The other important factors responsible for placing so much emphasis on livestock sector are a measure of improvement in the conditions of the rural poor, or to use this as one of the safeguards against accentuation of inter-class disparities in rural areas, is the impression that animal husbandry fits in with farm level infrastructure of the small farmer. This impression is strengthened further by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, Anand, and more importantly by the presence of dairy animals even on the smallest holdings in different parts of the country. Thus, there exists a nucleus of dairying even on small farms. Further, this enterprise, compared to some other activities, has a distinct initial advantage in terms of the store of traditional skill in maintaining dairy production, which is available with the small farmers.

The nucleus of dairy farming and the traditional skill accompanying it, may be profitably used in promoting the enterprise on a more scientific and commercial basis. These are the basic premises underlying and the whole approach to livestock entrepreneurship development through small farmers. However, it would be misleading to infer too much from the mere presence of a few milch cattle on the small farms. Unless relevant details about operations of dairy farming and their economic significance are properly understood a worthwhile planning for promoting dairy farming on small farms may become absolutely difficult.

Thus the financial institutions engaged in developing dairying as a rural enterprise will have to arrange or supply the necessary inputs, besides credit to deploy the funds in the most suitable and remunerative manner. The concept of moderanisation in livestock production has to be discussed in relation to land use, energy input and in terms of human or social factors. The importance of any rural change should be assessed by its capacity to increase the buying power of the producer. The highly specialised larger-scale dairying, as practised in Western countries, is not applicable to developing countries because of the high capital investment, technical speciality and enormous energy input. Dairy production by the small farmers is an adjunct to primary crop agriculture is more likely to increase milk production in the country as a whole and enhance milk consumption eventually than modern large scale dairying. The establishment of large government and institutional farms should, therefore, be supplemented with an active programme to stimulate the small farmer to accept dairying as part of rural activities. Unless efforts are concentrated to appeal to the ‘human element’ involved in the process of this change, handling of livestock production in large modernized units can only be a partial answer to the problem. Initiatives to introduce this concept of animal agriculture should include on the farm demonstration of green fodder production and preservation practices e.g. silage and hay making. Experience in the past has shown that there is no miracle solution to the complex problem but manipulation and skill development of the human factor at the small farm level may be closer to reality than modernization at the suburban level.

Need of entrepreneurship development in livestock sector:

The needs of rural entrepreneurship development in livestock sector are essential for the following reasons:

l  Enterprises like dairy, goatry, poultry etc. are labour intensive, have high potential in employment generation. Thus, they serve as an antidote to the widespread problems of disguised unemployment or under-employment stalking the rural territory especially among youth.

l   By providing employment, these enterprises have also high potential for income generation in the rural areas. These, thus, help in reducing disparities in income between rural and urban areas..

l   Development of agriculture and livestock based enterprises in the rural areas also helps build up village republics.

l   This sector also helps protect and promote art and creativity, i.e. the age-old rich heritage of the country.

l   Rural industrialisation fosters economic development in rural areas. This curbs rural-urban migration, on the one hand, and also lessens the disproportionate growth in the cities, reduces growth of slums, social tensions, and atmospheric pollution, on the other.

l   The livestock related enterprises can also play a significant role in management of natural resources in a better way, thus environment friendly and lead to development without destruction.

Measures for livestock entrepreneurship development:

The livestock sector in the Indian economy is so unique that any situational change in this sector-positive or negative-has a multiple effect on the entire economy. Efforts should be made to modernize different livestock operations by pro-moting the adoption of improved practices of feeding, breeding, management, health care, value addition and marketing through training and demonstration. Our approaches to livestock planning have undergone drastic changes with the passage of time.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been in the forefront, in guiding and coordinating these developments.  If any entrepreneur wishes to assume a leadership role, it has no option but to strengthen the human resource base. The ICAR is fully seized of this issue and hence is providing the highest priority to human resources development. Need based training by adopting different training modules and transfer of technology form the core of the process of livestock entrepreneurship development in rural areas. Vocational training for the rural youth may prove to be a significant input in accelerating our farm production. Information regarding livestock inputs and credit requirements also need urgent attentions for fulfilling these tasks in limited time. The contention put forward when put into action will surely revolutionise establishment of livestock related enterprise. The task of carrying the technology to real beneficiaries requires necessary zeal and planning, hence there is an urgent need to develop a proper strategy for promoting livestock entrepreneurship among rural youth.

Developing livestock entrepreneurship among rural youth for livelihood security is of great significance. The traditional subsistence, livestock farming must give way to a profitable enterprise. It is very easy to say but developing entrepreneurs out of farmers and unemployed youth from disadvantaged categories is a challenging task. Developing content motivated and technically competent motivated and technically capable livestock entrepreneurs is possible through scientific training. Entrepreneurship deals with knowledge and skill about the enterprise and its technical details, knowledge about techniques of enterprise management market information and above all inculcation of entrepreneurial traits. A proper mix of the different component viz. entrepreneurial behaviour, technical competence, enterprise management and marketing is required for development of livestock entrepreneurs.

Reference-On Request