In the country where the campaign of calling cows “gau mata” has started, on the other hand, its decreasing number in Gujarat has become a matter of concern. It is worth mentioning that in spite of having Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board in Gujarat, the number of cows has declined amazingly in the last 7 years.
According to the statistics of the State Animal Husbandry Department, the number of cows in Gujarat was around 1 crore in 2012, while in 2019 this number has come down to 96.34 lakh. This means there was a decrease of 3.5 lakh cows and there are many reasons for the decrease in this number. One of the reasons is slaughterhouses.
On the other hand, cattle rearers are more dependent on buffalo than cows for increasing milk income.
A high official of the Animal Husbandry Department told that the number of buffaloes in Gujarat is more than the number of cows. The number of buffaloes has increased to 1.05 crores in seven years. Many incentives for cow-based animal husbandry have been brought by the government, but animal owners do not take advantage of it.
The number of cows in the country in 2012 was 19.09 crores, while in 2019 it has increased to 19.24 crores, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra come in the first five states in the top 10 states of cattle population. Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa are included in the other five states of the country. On the other hand, the number of buffalo has increased as compared to 10.87 crores in 2012, this number has increased to 10.98 in 2019. The state where the number of buffalo has increased is Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
