Food
By Iwis
July 9, 2021
Cattle is the most prominent agricultural source in Animal Husbandry which is the second largest contributor to man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after fossil fuels and causes nearly 18% of GHG emissions.
This is because cows emit an extremely potent greenhouse gas, methane (CH4), from a digestive process known as enteric fermentation. Through which microbes in their digestive tract or rumen decompose and ferment food, producing methane as a by-product.
Beef not only has a larger climate-change footprint than all the other animal-based foods but also requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more GHG emissions per gram of edible protein than common plant proteins.
Land-use impacts of beef production such as cutting down forests to establish new pastureland is often ignored while talking about climate change due to livestock farming.
A portion of land devoted to beef production can often store far more carbon if allowed to grow forest or its native vegetation
The practice of cattle rearing traces down to Indian Scriptures as important and universal an occupation as farming.
Yet, India domestically consumed over 2.6 million metric tons CWE of beef and veal last year, which was an increase in consumption compared to recent years despite the cries of beef-ban and cow vigilantism in the country.
Still India has the world’s lowest beef consumption despite having the largest cattle population as most of the Indians revere cows as a motherly figure.
Unlike non-dairy cows in the west, Indian cattle are not raised exclusively for meat. They labour on farms or produce milk for human consumption.