Introduction
Agriculture and allied activities remain the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s rural economy. According to the 2011 Census of India, approximately 80% of the region’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture and allied sectors. Within these agrarian livelihoods, livestock rearing performs a dual economic and social function: it contributes to household subsistence and cash income, provides nutritional security, and acts as a store of value. The government has introduced numerous schemes to stimulate growth in the livestock sector, and over the past decade, the region has recorded measurable improvements in livestock productivity and commercialisation. Nevertheless, the sector’s sustainability and by extension the livelihoods of thousands of households face a persistent and systemic constraint: a critical shortage of veterinary professionals and inadequate veterinary infrastructure.
The absence of accessible, quality veterinary care undermines animal health outcomes, reduces productivity, and exposes livestock-dependent households to substantial economic risk. In addition to direct losses from disease and mortality, poor veterinary coverage exacerbates secondary consequences such as reduced milk yields, compromised reproductive performance, and increased treatment costs. These effects are magnified in Jammu & Kashmir by the region’s topographical and climatic constraints: dispersed settlements, difficult terrain, and seasonal access limitations render traditional models of veterinary outreach less effective. The following analysis synthesises available evidence, illustrative case studies, and official statistics to elucidate the scope of the problem and propose actionable policy responses.
Contextualizing the Problem: Livestock Dependence and Service Deficits
Livestock in Jammu & Kashmir occupies a prominent place in the rural economy. The 2019 Livestock Census reports 8,325,324 head of livestock and 7,366,308 poultry in the Union Territory, reflecting the sector’s pervasive role in employment generation and household revenue. Despite this significance, veterinary human resources are disproportionately low. A reply in the Lok Sabha, citing State/VCI/AHS data, registers 1,057 veterinary doctors in J&K as of 31 March 2023, equating to approximately 7,876 animals per registered veterinarian. By comparison to norms established by the National Commission on Agriculture (1976), which recommends one veterinary doctor or institution for every 5,000 animals, J&K’s ratio is markedly unfavourable. Given temporal discrepancies between the 2019 livestock census and the 2023 staffing figures, it is plausible that the actual animal-to-veterinarian ratio is even higher than recorded.
Compounding the shortage of personnel is the paucity of institutional infrastructure. As of 31 March 2022, Jammu & Kashmir reported only 19 veterinary hospitals, an indicator that places the region among the lower-performing states and union territories in terms of hospital provision. While the territory has achieved relatively strong representation in dispensaries and first-aid centres, 1,256 dispensaries and 225 aid/first-aid centres, these facilities are frequently understocked, lack functional diagnostic equipment, and are unevenly distributed. Districts with difficult terrain, such as Rajouri, demonstrate pronounced spatial inequities where veterinary dispensaries may be many miles away from farming communities. Rural farmers thus face a constellation of access barriers: human resource shortages, poorly equipped facilities, and inadequate emergency response mechanisms.
Illustrative Cases: Human and Institutional Costs
Micro-level case studies vividly illustrate the macro-level deficiencies. In Hukhlatri village, a household savings plan culminated in the purchase of a cow for ₹90,000, an investment representing significant capital for a rural family. After the cow calved, its health rapidly deteriorated; the nearest veterinary facility was eight kilometres away, a distance that rendered transportation impractical. The household residentially summoned a veterinarian, incurring professional fees and travel charges that aggregated to nearly ₹30,000, approximately one-third of the cattle’s acquisition cost. Beyond the pecuniary loss, this episode underscores how geographic isolation inflates treatment costs and increases the vulnerability of smallholder households.
A second example, from Kalantara Payin in the Wagoora block of Baramulla district, presents a tragic outcome attributable to institutional absenteeism. When a cow developed acute swelling, the owner, Abdul Rahman Mir, found the nearest veterinary centre padlocked and received no response to repeated phone calls. Subsequent inquiries revealed that the designated doctor was on leave and subordinate staff were deployed on door-to-door LSD vaccination; consequently, the cow succumbed to untreated disease. This incident demonstrates not only personnel shortages but also the lack of robust contingency protocols and after-hours care pathways.
These vignettes suggest that the burden of veterinary constraints is borne disproportionately by resource-poor households that cannot absorb unexpected health shocks. They also reveal a market failure dynamic: when public veterinary service provision is unreliable or inaccessible, farmers often resort to private consultations that impose high out-of-pocket costs and can expose them to exploitation due to asymmetries in information regarding entitlements and scheme benefits.
Structural and Operational Challenges
Several interrelated factors aggravate veterinary service deficits in J&K:
Human Resource Vacancies and Distribution: A legislative reply noted 2,589 vacancies in the Animal Husbandry Department. Unfilled positions reflect recruitment delays and possible constraints in attractors for rural postings, contributing to uneven service coverage.
Infrastructure Decay and Equipment Gaps: Local reporting highlights non-functional equipment in key facilities; for instance, the principal veterinary hospital in Srinagar has operated without a working X-ray machine since flood damage in 2014. The absence of modern diagnostic tools undermines the capacity for accurate disease detection and timely intervention.
Limited Diagnostic and Laboratory Capacity: A 2022 empirical study published in the Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, conducted across Ganderbal, Shopian, and Baramulla, identified the lack of efficient diagnostic laboratories as a chief concern among veterinarians. Where district-level disease investigation labs are absent, sample transport from remote areas is logistically and financially impractical, delaying confirmation and appropriate containment measures.
Mobility and Emergency Response Deficits: Although the Department reports 50 Mobile Veterinary Units (MVUs) providing doorstep services, uptake is minimal: official figures indicate only 7,148 beneficiary farmers in J&K, a stark contrast to higher utilisation in other states. Moreover, there is a near-complete absence of dedicated veterinary ambulances to transport sick or injured animals, inhibiting emergency referrals and timely care delivery.
Changing Livestock Practices and Welfare Concerns: Mechanisation in agriculture has diminished the population of male bovines and reduced natural mating practices. Consequently, farmers rely heavily on artificial insemination services that are frequently costly and inconvenient: animals may be walked across multiple villages to reach centres, or veterinarians may charge additional travel fees for domiciliary insemination. These practices impose economic burdens on households and raise animal welfare concerns due to stress from transportation and handling.
Information Gaps and Farmer Awareness: Low awareness regarding government schemes and entitlements leaves farmers vulnerable to informal market exploitation by service providers. Weak outreach and extension services thus perpetuate under-utilisation of public programs and impede preventive care behaviours.
Consequences for Livelihoods and Public Health
The ramifications of veterinary service inadequacies extend beyond individual animal losses. At the household level, decreased milk yields, infertility, and increased mortality directly erode incomes and nutritional security. At the community and market levels, disease outbreaks can constrain supply, reduce marketable outputs, and generate ripple effects on allied industries (e.g., dairy processing). Public health concerns arise when zoonotic diseases are not promptly identified or contained, creating potential human health risks. Furthermore, underinvestment in diagnostics and surveillance compromises the territory’s capacity to participate in national disease-control frameworks and to access schemes contingent on disease reporting and certification.
Policy Recommendations
Addressing these multidimensional challenges requires an integrated, system-level response combining staffing, infrastructure, mobility, training, and governance reforms. Key recommendations include:
Immediate Recruitment and Strategic Posting: Expedite hiring to fill the 2,589 vacant posts and adopt incentive structures (e.g., rural posting allowances, housing, professional recognition) to attract and retain veterinarians in underserved areas. Implement transparent workforce planning based on district-level animal populations and vulnerability indices.
Infrastructure Upgradation: Invest in district- and block-level diagnostic laboratories, rehabilitate damaged equipment (e.g., X-ray units), and ensure a consistent supply chain for essential medicines and testing kits. Equip veterinary dispensaries with rapid diagnostic tests to enable frontline decision-making.
Enhance Mobility and Emergency Services: Expand and strengthen the Mobile Veterinary Unit network with adequate staffing, fuel support, and maintenance. Introduce dedicated veterinary ambulances or animal-transport vehicles in each district to facilitate emergency referrals and reduce transport-related delays.
Scale Veterinary Education and Research Capacity: Prioritise the establishment of veterinary colleges and a dedicated veterinary university within J&K, a proposal first mooted in 2014 but yet to materialise, to cultivate local human resources, promote context-specific research, and create a sustainable pipeline of trained personnel attuned to regional ecological and epidemiological conditions.
Farmer Awareness and Extension Services: Launch targeted awareness campaigns that inform farmers about entitlements, scheme modalities, and early reporting protocols. Build the capacities of para-vets and community animal health workers to provide first-line care and surveillance.
Integrate Private and Public Service Delivery: Encourage public–private partnerships for service delivery in remote areas, incentivise private investment in rural veterinary clinics, and regulate fee structures to protect smallholder farmers from exploitation.
Data-Driven Planning and Monitoring: Institutionalise robust monitoring systems that track service utilisation, diagnostic turnaround times, disease incidence, and treatment outcomes to inform dynamic resource allocation.
Conclusion
The livestock sector in Jammu & Kashmir is integral to rural livelihoods, yet chronic deficits in veterinary staffing, infrastructure, and emergency response critically undermine its sustainability. Empirical cases from Hukhlatri and Wagoora exemplify the human costs of service gaps, while aggregated statistics reveal structural misalignment with national norms for veterinary coverage. Addressing these deficits requires a comprehensive policy agenda, spanning recruitment, infrastructure rehabilitation, mobility solutions, enhanced veterinary education, and farmer-facing extension services, anchored in data-driven planning and intersectoral collaboration. Realising such reforms is not merely a technical exercise; it is a necessary investment in the economic resilience, food security, and public health of Jammu & Kashmir’s rural communities.
References
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384792434_Impact_of_infrastructure_and_public_investment_on_development_of_livestock_sector_in_Jammu_Kashmir-India
https://www.dahd.gov.in/sites/default/files/2024-10/LSQ3136.pdf?
http://archive.go4subs.com/id/eprint/442/1/1824-Article%20Text-3310-1-10-20230203.pdf
https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/72986779/Avinash_20Neeraj_20and_20Pranav_20Kumar-libre.pdf?1634537150=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DProblems_Perceived_by_Livestock_Farmers.pdf&Expires=1764688792&Signature=AEeyvRkfSu1tAHfimscZ-b~01rCkzopqpud31qrBBP93LprjZ6o8wqb81mjAva~55jUoEnGwYqPCGlvWtde5gcl4jXgfHykSyGMmutLhp3rT~9ZlmZZHCGKFWRd6OCWbuUZJdQOa-F~1WGIwoTN~TDy2Vt7fB5edaJVLeDZUwQBqOCalIIh3648snFf0Gm-vO4HGpBvrTWGfXICcfcoxAvmYlwalEbWQAtmhuj83zLvfUNzg3UW5mCJAKFon0SrZM1BoYy6Eyo2OlDr9CMj8qlbos4Ng3l8zD5K3MVz9DJQHD~MIObbFDGdw8ngh7umN0QzjF4Oo7H5NP9ZuLBP0CQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4Z
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