Understanding the Indigenous Socio-Economic and Ecological Systems of Indigenous Livestock Breeds for Designing Appropriate Extension Service And Delivery System

-By Kanna K. Siripurapu, Sajal Kulkarni*, & Sabyasachi Das Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture Network, India. Address & Email of the Corresponding Author: Plot No-30, Near Renuka Mata Mandir,
Yashoda Nagar Phase-1, Post Jaitala, Hingana Road, Nagpur-440036. sajalskulkarni@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

.Indigenous livestock breeds represent the collective heritage of the communities they are associated with, and cannot be
conserved separately from their production systems. Such breeds will survive only when indigenous knowledge systems in which
they have been embedded also survives. Modern livestock breeding and development programmes, however, heavily rely on only
a handful of livestock breeds and genes, with narrow range of quantitative traits such as – quick growth and weight gain, etc.
Further, such development programmes and associated extension and delivery systems seldom acknowledge the role of
indigenous socio-cultural, traditional economic, and indigenous knowledge systems in improvement and conservation of
indigenous livestock breeds and germ plasm. A study was conducted in eleven districts of the Indian state of Maharashtra to
examine the relationship and embeddedness of a specific indigenous livestock breed within the socio-cultural landscape of its
custodian indigenous community. Results of the study suggest that Indigenous livestock management systems are highly evolved
and well positioned for improvement and sustainable management of both the indigenous livestock and associated genetic
resources. However, indigenous knowledge on animal breeding is often “tacit” and not necessarily an expressed knowledge.
Unlike modern science, the indigenous livestock management systems rely mostly on qualitative traits. Acknowledgement of
their role and a little encouragement through designing inclusive institutions, extension services and delivery mechanisms could
take improvement and conservation of indigenous livestock breeds/populations a long way.

Key Words: Gaolao cattle, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous livestock, and Nanda Gawli community.

INTRODUCTION

Indigenous livestock breeds have evolved over centuries within specific indigenous socio-cultural,
traditional economic, ecological, and indigenous knowledge systems (Marsoner, et al, 2018). They
represent the collective heritage of the communities they are associated with, and cannot be conserved
separately from their production systems. Such breeds will survive only when indigenous knowledge
systems in which they have been embedded also survives. Indigenous communities – especially
pastoralists – play an important role in the improvement and conservation of indigenous livestock
breeds/populations and stewarding the priceless indigenous livestock germplasm and gene pools (LPPS
and Köhler-Rollefson, 2005).

Ashwini Kulkarni

Ashwini Kulkarni is presently working with Pragati Abhiyan, a Civil Society Organisation based in Nashik, Maharashtra (www.pragatiabhiyan.org), which she has founded with like minded friends. She has extensively worked on MGNREGA, working with the Community, working with Government at all levels from local administration to the ministry in Delhi and has also worked with renowned researchers to understand the program in the context of rural development. Working on rural livelihoods for a long time naturally led to exploring the issues of small and marginal farmers, especially the rainfed. Public policies and public investments are the main drivers of development, hence studying policies of the Government has been an important part of Pragati Abhiyans work. In addition to working with various stakeholders, she has been involved in occasionally writing for the media to supplement the discourse on various issues. She is closely associated with the RRAN and NREGA consortium and is on the Board of Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation.

Jaideep Hardikar

Is a widely-travelled journalist, writer, researcher and educator with 27 years of experience in full-time and independent capacities with two decades of work in rural journalism; a Core Team member of the People’s Archive of Rural India, he has research interests in agrarian society with a focus on collective social enterprise, food systems, water, institutional governance, climate change, commons, and caste and gender issues. Recipient of many coveted awards and fellowships, he is an author of ‘A village awaits doomsday’ (Penguin India, 2013) and ‘Ramrao – the story of India’s farm crisis’ (Harper Collins, 2021); his journalism appears in Indian and foreign publications; he is a Visiting Faculty at the IFMR-Krea University, Sri City, AP. The CPC was born out of his and other friends’ long-thought idea; he helps the CPC’s teams with designs and social theory to augment the grassroots works. His other interests are cricket, films, traveling and wine-making.

Ajinkya Shahane

Has an MBA in IT Management and a bachelor’s in computer applications; handles all the IT and ITES related work for the CPC, building e-learning solutions for the CPC and community collectives; and works on the CPC’s projects to provide IT solutions; he has been a former consultant to the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) in their ongoing ‘Green Collar Jobs’ project. Ajinkya has keen interests in the social landscape of Vidarbha, particularly the ever-migrating pastoralists, human migration, and photography. He enjoys spending time in the field with different livestock rearing communities as much as he enjoys playing cricket.

Sajal Kulkurni

Is a budding biodiversity scientist, a scholar of the pastoralism in India, and researcher; he anchors the CPC’s vertical of agro-pastoralist communities and their social enterprises, in addition to building networks with many like-minded individual and institutional partners; is the convener of the Maharashtra chapter of the Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (Maha-RRAN) where he networks with the individuals and institutions working on the structural problem of rainfed family farms and allied sector livelihoods, while conceptualizing and steering the agro-pastoralists’ institutional models and governance. Sajal has several research papers to his credit; he was instrumental in characterization of the lesser-known breeds of cattle in Vidarbha region reared by pastoralist communities & their conservation . As the CEO of the CPC, he heads the projects that are at the intersection of forests, pastoralists and agriculture, and leads grassroots research from the framework of social action theory and biodiversity. He is a product of Nirman, a youth innovation programme run by the SEARCH, Gadchiroli, and has interest in poetry.