Infographic of relative populations of cattle and buffaloes in different states of India.
Data source and analysis:
Data was obtained from the 18th Live Stock Census, Department of animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries, of the ministry of agriculture. Census data was analyzed using the normalized log-ratio method. The log of ratio of cattle to buffalo was normalized to values between 0 and 1. Normalized values were assigned an RGB color value using the colorRamp package in R (http://cran.r-project.org/). White-red and white-blue color ramps were assigned to positive and negative log-ratios respectively.
Some notable patterns:
- Hilly states (JK, HP, UK, North-eastern states) have more cattle as compared to buffaloes.
- States with water scarcity (TN, KA, MH, MP, OR etc.) have lower no. of buffaloes as compared to cattle.
- GJ, RJ and AP (relatively dry/plain states) are the most balanced in terms of cattle and buffaloes.
- Northern states with plenty of access to water and ponds (PB, HR and UP) have the highest number of buffaloes. Thus, actually making up the buffalo belt of India.
