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Concept
Livestock in Sri Lanka
Summary
In Sri Lanka many farmers depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood, but not a large proportion. Therefore, many livestock products have to be imported. The main livestock products in Sri Lanka are milk, meat and eggs. Hides, wools and other products are still not produced within the country. Animal power formerly used in the cultivation of rice and vegetables have been replaced by modern technology to farmlands. However animal husbandry plays an important role in the rural economy for improving the living conditions of farmers in the country.
The land area of Sri Lanka is 65,610 km2. and of this, 30% belongs to agricultural activities. From that 30%, 70% is solely devoted to crop production. The remainder consists of a mixture of crops and livestock. Hence, a very small proportion of the farmland is solely devoted to livestock production. In Sri Lanka, livestock sector contributes around 1.2% of the national GDP. Livestock is spread throughout all regions of Sri Lanka with concentrations of certain farming systems in particular areas due to cultural, market and agro-climatic reasons. According to statistics from the Department of Animal Production and Health, there are about 1.3 million cattle, 0.3 million buffalo, 0.4 million goats, 13 million poultry and 0.08 million pigs in the country with negligible numbers of sheep, ducks and other animal breeds.
The per capita consumption of milk and dairy products in Sri Lanka (about 36 kg) is less, compare to other countries in the South Asian region. Since the 1980s Sri Lanka import dry milk powder as their main dairy commodity from Australia and New Zealand up to now.
A very few types of dairy products are locally processed by a few companies as well as household producers in the country. The most leading product among them is yoghurt and hundreds of trade names are available to buy it. Other main dairy products are ice cream, curd, ghee, liquid milk (pasteurized and flavoured), cheese and some sweets.
Domestic breeds are rarely used as livestock breeds in Sri Lanka.
Official source
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