Sustainability & efficiency

Animal Breeding Policies and Strategies in South Asia for Sustainable Genetic Improvement

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Abstract

Livestock sector plays an important role in the national economy and in the socio-economic development of the SAARC Member nations. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region is blessed with high diversity of indigenous animal genetic resources. In light of diverse agroclimatic zones coupled with tireless efforts of the grassroots animal keepers, the region has emerged as preferred habitat for numerous prized breeds of livestock species; a few of them are Murrah (buffalo), Tharparkar (cattle), Black Bengal (goat), Garole (sheep), Kadaknath (poultry) etc. Evidently, the contribution of livestock to agricultural GDP is enormous, ranging from 8 to 56% among the Member States. About 25% of world's cattle and buffaloes, 15% of the sheep and goat and 7% camel are inhabitant in the SAARC region. Nevertheless, the per animal productivity is low as compared to several other countries. These necessities genetic improvement of livestock through multiple approaches; namely cross/selective breeding, artificial insemination, embryo transfer technology, genomic selection, multiplier flock etc. In the region the coverage of AI is inadequate due to lack of breeding infrastructure and lack of awareness of rural households that resulting low productivity of indigenous animal. The adaption of AI would reduce the discriminate use of breeding bulls, inbreeding among animals and also reduce the chance of reproductive problems of animals due to various sexually transmitted diseases. In the region, the average milk production per cow and buffalo during 2011 was 617.86 and 1257.96 litter/year respectively. Still the region has enormous scope to increase productivity of the farm animals to meet national demand. The developed countries could best assist the developing countries to improve their AnGR by introducing highly selected breeds and establishing them as straight or cross-bred populations to substitute for the local ones. Finally, the region needs to recognize the improved management should accompany genetic improvement as higher-producing animals have greater requirements in terms of feeding and husbandry.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Ali, M. & Samanta, A., (2026) “Animal Breeding Policies and Strategies in South Asia for Sustainable Genetic Improvement”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2282890. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.23472

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