NLF India

NLF India is part of GLobal One Health Mission thru’ SIddayur International Wellness Approach (GLOHMSIWA) and directly collaborates with Trans Disciplinary University (TDU) in Bangalore as the Centre for Ethnoveterinary Science and Practice.

Over the past years this team has trained more than 3.500 veterinarians and 50.000 dairy farmers on the use of medicinal plants instead of antibiotics for reducing mastitis and other common cattle diseases. Since 2018 there is a close collaboration with NDDB, the National Dairy Development Board, which is heading the Dr. Nair and Prof. Punniamurthy have produced many scientific articles on their work.

The majority of the 140 million Indian rural households own two to four dairy cattle, goats, sheep or chicken and keep the cattle under zero-grazing housing systems. India’s dairy sector employs around 90 million people, of which 75% are women. India is the highest milk producing country in the world (15% of global dairy output) based on 98% of the farmers in smallholder farming system with crossbreed cattle and buffalo. This is based on the extensive system of 82.000 village level dairy cooperative societies with local milk collection centres, and 250 dairy plants handling around 20 million litres of milk a day. Almost all 108 tonnes of dairy produced annually by cattle and buffalo is consumed domestically.

Most farmers do not have affordable access to primary veterinary healthcare. Problems in dairy farming include: high incidence of mastitis and other diseases, high use of antibiotics by vets and farmers, free and uncontrolled sales of antibiotics in local shops, loss of local cattle breeds. Resource poor rural farmers often rely on ancestral folk herbal knowledge to deal with the diseases of their livestock. These Ethno-Veterinary Practices (EVP) are cost effective and environmentally sound idea for sustainable livestock production in the villages. The emerging trend in favor of herbal medicine is partly due to the issues related to the antimicrobial drug resistance and drug residues in foods (milk/meat/eggs) of animal origin. Veterinarians show increasing interest in the medicinal plants, employed in traditional systems. Qualified veterinary physicians around the world require orientation on the traditional folk veterinary medicine systems.

The focus of NLF in India is mainly on layer 3, the use of medicinal plants or ethno-veterinary practices (EVP). The other levels (animal management, breeding, quality control and marketing) are organized by the dairy cooperatives, organized under the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)

Dr.Nair and Prof Punniamurty and colleagueshave expanded impressive training activities in the field of herbal medicine (EVP) to both veterinarians and farmers of major dairy cooperatives in the whole of India. Over the past decades the team has trained more than 1750 veterinarians, of which 61 completed the EVP post-graduate diploma course offered by TDU and TANUVAS. Over 30.000 dairy farmers and 516 Village Resource persons were trained on the use of medicinal plants instead of antibiotics for reducing mastitis and other common cattle diseases.

In this work, there is close cooperation with dairy cooperatives in 14 states, including AMUL, KMF, MILMA. Since 2018 there is a close collaboration with NDDB, the National Dairy Development Board, which is the national organizations of dairy cooperatives (Milk Unions) through which millions of poor Indian farmers sell their milk, with which several videos were made. They also work with the State Government Veterinary Department in the States of Sikkim, Haryana and Punjab.
Other organizations involved include BAIF, Goat Trust and Abbott, and universities LUVAS and KVASU. In Feb. 2020 a new project with BAMUL dairy was started for the training of farmers for the delivery of 15.000 kg of antibiotic- and aflatoxin residue free milk per day.