Say Cheese!

Dr Manoj Mishra, Executive Director, Sahjeevan, and Member - National Advisory Committee, (Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying), has advised national and international organisations on policies related to sustainable livelihoods. He anchors the work related to livelihoods of Centre for Pastoralism, a virtual community working for India's pastoralists. Dr Mishra, pictured below, shares his thoughts on the production and potential of pastoral cheese in India with Brinda Gill

- Brinda Gill

Please could you explain pastoralism and pastoral cheese?

Pastoralism is a way of raising livestock that makes use of varied landscapes by moving animals and managing their grazing by the practice of deliberate herding. It is enabled by close, caring interactions between humans and animals. Pastoralists in India keep cows, buffaloes, yaks, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, ducks and pigs.

In India, there are an estimated 10 to 20 million pastoralists across the country. A detailed pastoral census has been initiated by the Government of India, to be carried out in 2023. It will be the first pastoral census in the country. The UN has declared 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) and India is one of the signatories. The aim is to explore how pastoral communities contribute to the culture, economy and environment of the country.

For a healthy diet, grazing animals need to eat a balance of different plants. Herders help animals do this by letting them forage across environments that vary in altitude, moisture and type of vegetation, according to the changing seasons.

Pastoral cheese is cheese prepared from the milk of such animals reared under a pastoral production system. Cheese such as chhurpi, a yak milk cheese, has traditionally been made in Sikkim. We are now working on cheese from other pastoral animals.

Is the flavour profile of pastoral cheese distinct from other cheeses?