Management practices and operational economics in entrepreneurial livestock units under the national livestock mission in Karnataka

Abstract

This study presents the findings of a concurrent evaluation of management practices and operational economics of livestock entrepreneurial units established under the National Livestock Mission’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme (NLM-EDP) in Bengaluru division of Karnataka as on 31-3-2025. The scheme has effectively catalysed a transition towards commercial livestock entrepreneurship, demonstrated by the high adoption of improved housing (87.50%), universal vaccination (100%), and silage-making (58.33%). Despite these advancements, several challenges continue to constrain economic sustainability. A heavy dependence on purchased feed - constituting the largest share of recurring expenses (40.26 - 80.98%) - combined with low adoption of advanced feed technologies, highlights a critical gap in input self-sufficiency and points to the need for targeted capacity-building interventions. Profitability varied widely across units. Notably, an inverse relationship between unit size and per-animal profit was observed in small ruminants: smaller sheep/goat units achieved higher per-animal profitability than larger units, at the same time, the piggery enterprise demonstrated superior viability compared to small ruminant units. Severe constraints included the absence of organised marketing channels (87.50%), high initial investment (79.17%) and interest burden (75.00%). Overall, enhancing the impact of NLM-EDP requires interventions beyond capital subsidies - specifically ensuring access to quality breeds and fodder production, building capacities in breeding and feed management, promoting scalable and efficient models for small ruminant enterprises, addressing limitations associated with zero-grazing management practices, strengthening market linkages and revising financial norms to better reflect actual investment and operational costs.