Introduction

India has 199.69 millions cattle, which is about 50% of the Asian and 15 percent of the world cattle population. Demand for buffalo meat is ever increasing and there is a requirement for development of buffalo meat variety. In 1970 the North America was the second largest meat producer ranking after Europe. In 1985 Asia stood at second position. With annual growth of 4.1% in meat production. With the demand for meat exceeding the production in the countries of Asia and Africa, New markets have opened in this area. Male buffalo calf and the adult buffalo have commercial success in meat production and marketing. The buffalo population is about 50% of world population and makes India No. 1 in the World buffalo statistics. We have 201 million cattle, 60.8 million sheep, 115.5 million goat,12.8 million pigs and 600 million poultry. The value of livestock products has registered an average simple growth of 6.69 percent per annum in the last 15 years, as against 5.1 percent for agriculture and 3.2 percent per annum in the GDP. The availability of meat is 5 g/h/d against a requirement of 24 g annually. For the inventory of livestock India holds the large geographical land distribution and its should have been a major prayer in the global meat market. The tragedy is India has no place either in world meat production or in the trading. It has a mere 1% role. The production of pork almost doubled in 20 years between 1965 and 1985 from 43,000 to 88,000 tons. It is projected to touch 0.1 million tons by 2000 A. D.

Production

India produces 4.2 million tonnes of meat (Beef 1,276, Buffalo Meat 1.20, Mutton 0,179, Chevon 0,500, Pork 0,386 and boiler 0,416 million tonnes). India ranks third in chevon production next to China and Pakistan¹.Annual production of chevon is 458 thousand MT which contributes to 12.6% of total chevon produced in the world. Chevon production is 14% of the total meat produced in India (3277 thousand MT). Goat meat contribute 27.6% of the total meat available for mass consumption. The plus points about Indian chevon is that it is of lean type and is preferred in the world market. The continuing demand for goat meat in the domestic market limits the availability of chevon for export. RED REVOLUTION is required for meat production to meet domestic and global demand by development of live stock and scientific infrastructure for quality meat production. The production of pork almost doubled in 20 years between 1965 and 1985 from 43,000 to 88,000 tons. It is projected to touch 0.1 million tons by 2000 A. D.

Quality aspect of buffalo meat

Meat quality is the most important attribute from the stand point or consumer acceptance and is assessed by its appearance, chemical composition , physical characteristics, texture and microbial profiles.

Composition:

Buffalo meat has higher protein contents. The hydroxyproline content is relatively less in buffalo meat than beef. Buffalo meat contain almost all the essential amino acids like lysin, methionine and leucine are at higher level compared to beef.

Composition of different meats

Meat	Moisture (%)	Protein (%)	Fat (%)	Fatty acids (Total)			Tryglyceride PUFA	Phospholipid (PUFA
				Saturated	Mono-saturated	Poly-saturated	(%)	(%)
Buffalo	76.6a	20.8a	1.5 a	31.3e	26.9 e	28.6 e	3.0 e	34.1 e
Beef	75.2b	21.6 b	1.6 b	40.0e	42.4 e	8.8 e	2.4 e	25.9 e
Mutton	71.9c	19.4 c	7.1 c	39.7e	40.3 e	10.3 e	3.8	31.2 e
Chevon	77.8d	19.2 d	3.3 d	36.6 e	40.5 e	13.0 e	3.8 e	31.6 e

^a Kondaiah et al. (1986), ^bValin et al. (1984(, ^cFarouk and Price (1994) ^dKondaiah and Shama (1986). ^eSinclair et al. (1982).

Characteristics of Different Meats

Meat	Intramuscular Collagen (mg/g)	Shear force (kgcm2)	Fibre diameter (m m)	Water holding capacity (%)	Cooking loss (%)
Buffalo	3.7a	5.0 a	55.0 c	38.0 i	37.1 i
Beef	3.5 a	7.3 a	55.6 d	36.5 h	24.6 g
Mutton	6.7 b	7.6 b	50.7 e	40.1 j	36.1 j

^a Valin et al. (1984), ^bAlhus et al. (1991), ^cReddy et al. (1990), ^dCrouse et al. (1986), ^ePrice and Aalhus (1991), ^fAnjaneyulu et al. (1989), ^gTieterson et al. (1992), ^hSwift and Sulzbach (1963), ⁱGilka et al. (1989), ^jFarouk and Price (1994).

Changing Scenario in Population Growth

The annual population growth in cattle, buffaloes, goat, sheep and pigs has been 0.1, 0.8, 0.6 and 2.0 percent respectively during the last two decade. Among the bovine population, the present trend is twoards production of buffaloes. Already seventeen western districts of U.P., Punjab, Haryana, lower Himachal Pradesh, Ganganagar area of Rajasthan the buffaloes are dominating the bovine population ranging from 75 to 90 percent. Similarly, the other areas where buffalo population is growing fast is Gujarat, Maharashtra and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

With virtual lack of backward integration with slaughter house about 5 million male calves are intentionally killed by farmers annually. Which has potential to be reared as meat animals. The growth of sheep population is slow as compared with the goats.

Population of Goats (1000)

Year	World	India	Per cent of World
1989-91	576965	113200	19.6
1996	695178	119500	17.2
1997	675820	120600	17.8
1998	693261	120600	17.4

1. Negative attitude of the masses towards meat.
2. Higher cost of modern abattoirs.
3. Frequent objections by the public about the location of abattoirs
4. Socio-political and religious pressures etc.

The major export of meat and meat products is from buffalo, sheep and goats. The largest share of export is from buffalo meat, which was 157,000 tonnes, valued at Rs. 910 crores in 1997-98. Buffalo meat exports exhibited a tremendous growth. Export almost trebled between 1988 and 1998, rising from 51,205 tonnes to 157,000 tonnes. Still, total buffalo meat exports accounts for only 10% of the domestic output. Some private state-of-art abattoir-cum-meat processing plants have established a niche in the international markets, like the Philippines, Malaysia, Iran, Egypt, Gulf and Middle East Countries & CIS Countries. India’s export of animal casings and processed meat are small. However, the export of bones, bone products and horn and hooves meal is substantial. In 1992-93, it amounted to Rs. 834.1 million. The main products being ossein, bone grist, crushed bones and gelatine. The value of leather and leather goods was Rs. 5957 crores in 1991 with an export of Rs. 3219 crores which is likely to increase to Rs. 30220 crores in the year 2001 with an export of Rs. 18,000 crores.

Category-wise Exports of Meat and Meat Products (Quantity Rs. in millions)

	1995-96		1996-97		1997-98		Growth Rate
	Tons	Rs.	Tons	Rs.	Tons	Rs.	% 1994-96
Buffalo meat	15970	5550	15757	6190	17633	7293	11.53
Processed meat	48	41	51	44	26	22	10.3
Mutton & chevon	861	564	869	710	754	627	25.00
Animal casings	33	83	45	123	37	120	49.00