The new rules restricting the trade of cattle in marketplaces for slaughter has set off a turmoil in the ₹2,000-crore bone meal and gelatin industry.
Market players and experts feel the new rules will drastically reduce the supply of animal bones for processing and place a heavy burden on farmers, who will have to bear the cost of maintaining unproductive animals.
Once a bovine animal such as water buffalo is slaughtered, the bones and inedible body organs are pulverised to produce bone meals, which is used as fertiliser and poultry feed. The bones are also used to make gelatin, which has extensive applications in the pharmaceutical industry. Bone meal producer Zarif Qureshi, from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh, said that if animals are not available for slaughter, the bone meal industry will come to standstill. The losses would be huge.
Given that it is a matter of survival for the industry, the notification must be withdrawn, he said.
From the carcasses of cows and buffaloes, none of the parts goes for waste. Even the horns of the animals are used to make buttons, used in the apparel industry.
Former Managing Director of Goa Meat Complex, Dr Benjamin Braganza, said the Centre’s notification is a retrograde measure, and does not take into consideration the dynamics of animal trade.
When an animal outlives its productive stage, it has to be sent for slaughter. The sale gives farmers fresh capital to purchase new animals. If animals are no longer sold in the market, the whole process will come to a standstill, he said.
The Goa Meat Complex is a joint undertaking of the Centre and the Goa government.
Braganza, who is also a veterinary physician, said that natural gelatin derived from animal bones is used to make pharmaceutical capsules. Synthetic gelatin has not found much use in the pharmaceutical industry; natural gelatin gets readily digested in the human gut, he said.
Agriculture expert Jagadeesh Sunkad said that bone-based fertilisers are the best sources of phosphate and calcium for the soil.
The new rules will effectively erode soil health in the country, he added. If there is short supply of beef in the market, people will eat goat and sheep meat.
The number of such smaller animals could rise. Compared to cows and buffaloes, goats and sheep eat all kinds of green vegetation, which could lead to degradation of land. Man-animal conflicts could also rise, he said.