Animal husbandry in India is made up by small, marginal and landless farmers. With only 2.29 per cent of the land area of the world, India is maintaining about 10.71 per cent of the world’s livestock. On an average, a farmer in India has two cows across the country, with a cattle population of 302,340,000 according to the 20th livestock census. For such farmers, animal farming integrates well with the family’s economic crusade against unemployment. In farms with livestock, animals are used on the field for production activities, their dung goes into the field or is used as a cooking fuel along with firewood. Livestock are the biggest safety net for farmers during a time of crisis acting as the asset or collateral for credit. Livestock is the insurance of the poor.

Indian livestock farmers do not have access to efficient decentralised technological solutions which could help them adapt to climatic variations making them very vulnerable. Technologies at every part of the value chain can act as opportunities in building the resilience of farmers, opportunities in both adaptation and mitigation. Interventions across the value chains can result in holistic outcomes, increased yields and incomes.