@article{Ahuja:177990,
      recid = {177990},
      author = {Ahuja, Vinod and Umali-Deininger, Dina and de Haan, Cees},
      title = {Market structure and the demand for veterinary services in  India},
      journal = {Agricultural Economics: The Journal of the International  Association of Agricultural Economists},
      address = {2003-07},
      number = {968-2016-75786},
      pages = {16},
      year = {2003},
      abstract = {The livestock sector is emerging as one of the fastest  growing agricultural sub-sectors in India and the  expectations are that
this growth could further accelerate  due to growing incomes and the high income elasticity of  demand for livestock products.
Given the size and  relatively equitable distribution of livestock in India,  this presents an excellent opportunity for the country  to
boost rural incomes and accelerate the pace of poverty  reduction. But, successful capitalisation of such  opportunities requires
a policy regime that facilitates  growth in productivity at the farm level as well as in the  processing sector. The productive
potential of animals  depends crucially on the quality of nutrition, genetic  material and the animal health system, and on all
these  counts, India has a poor record. The public sector  continues to be the primary provider of veterinary  services, and the
deteriorating fiscal situation of most  state governments is making it extremely difficult to  either expand the reach of these
services or improve the  quality of service delivery. Although, on efficiency  grounds, there is good rationale for  commercialised
delivery of these services, serious concerns  prevail in India about the equity implications of private  sector delivery or full cost
recovery within the government  system.
Evaluation of the desirability of user fees or  private delivery of livestock services requires an  understanding of the factors
influencing the demand for  these services. This paper examines the nature of demand  for veterinary services in three states
of India and  presents first estimates of demand elasticities for  veterinary services. The results indicate that price is not  an
important determinant of the decision to use these  services. Also, practically no variation is found in price  elasticities across
income groups. These results suggest  that the fears of sharp declines in the use of these  services as a result of full cost recovery
and/or private  sector delivery are unfounded.
© 2003 Elsevier Science B.V.  All rights reserved.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/177990},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.177990},
}