| Résumé : |
An exercise in the assessment of technology and its future is always important in the leather industry. The general decline in the quality and availability of raw hides and skins and the increasing costs of labour and overheads lead continuously to improving processing techniques and applying new chemicals. The same factors lead to making maxium use of the available hides and skins. In this paper the importance of the buffalo is analysed to try to asist with its fuller and better utilisation in India and in other countries.
The buffalo (or Bubalus bubalus to give it its official title) is a domestic animal in India, Indo-China, East Indies, Philippines, Burma and Malaya and has also been introduced in Egypt, Italy and Hungary. In Thailand and the Philippines, there are more buffaloes than cattle and they are considered a major source draught power. In Pakistan, buffalo mils accounts for 70 % of the total milk production. An estimated 117000 tonnes of buffalo meat are produced annually from slaughtered animals in India and regular production of meat and meat products take place in urban centres and rural feeder centres. The present 66 million buffalo population is expected to grow to 75 million by AD2000 and, out of this, at least one-third could be taken for slaughtering each year. India has an annual production of 10 million buffalo hides and skins, amounting to some 46 % of the world total. Major problems exist in the high incidence of grain defects, flaying defects and delays in curing, exaggerated by the fact 80 % of the hides are recovered from dead animals and only 20 % from slaughtered animals.
Raw hides are classified into different categories according to their weight, or size and quality. They are marketed on the basis either of weight ranges of classified hides. The question is whether hides and skins can be more fully utilised for the manufacture of a wider variety of leathers. Experience in India and other countries clearly indicates very good possibilities which merit further investigation and development. |
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Accueil
The better utilisation of the Buffalo in JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF LEATHER TECHNOLOGISTS & CHEMISTS (JSLTC), Vol. N° 71 (Année 1987)
