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Institute of Agribusiness Management, S.V. Agricultural College, ANGRAU, Tirupati-517 502.
Inspite of India being the top milk producing country, still there are many constraints in dairy production and extension service delivery. Hence an attempt was made to know the perceived constraints and suggestions of dairy farmers in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The study was undertaken with 120 dairy farmers belonging to Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The data was collected through a closed ended interview schedule. Non availability of the health services round the clock was perceived as the major constraint while the need to provide emergency animal health services by veterinarians round the clock was the major suggestion expressed to farmers regarding service delivery respectively.
KEYWORDS: Constraints, Dairy, Farmers, Suggestions.
India is a country with a sizable dairy sector. Dairy, farming in India has changed substantially, going from a traditional family-run enterprise to an organised industry with technical specializations. Animal husbandry has been identified as the most significant economic activity in rural regions. Dairy, farming in India entails more than merely producing an extra litre of milk; rather, it entails a robust dairy industry that ensures a corresponding source of income for the farmers. Additionally, it has led to socioeconomic growth in the villages that is entirely self-sufficient. In India, most of livestock farmers belong to small house hold farming community and carrying out traditional practices. Farmer majorly facing problems like high cost of dairy animals, high cost of fodder and concentrate, non-availability of breeding bulls locally, non-availability of veterinary service, unavailability of green fodder round the year.
Andhra Pradesh was purposively selected for the study as its stands fifth position in milk production in India. Tirupati district was purposively selected for the study, as it one of highest milk producing district and also had a greater number of well-established dairy industries. From Tirupati district, two mandals having highest milk pooling points were selected. Three villages were selected from each mandal based on the highest number of dairy farmers. Twenty farmers from each village were selected randomly thus making a total sample size of 120 farmers for the study from six villages.
The constrains faced by farmers in supplying of milk can be measured by the Garrett ranking procedure. The order of merit given by the respondents were converted into rank by using the formula.
Rij = Rank given for the ith variable by jth respondent
Nj = Number of variables ranked by jth respondent
The data related to the constraints faced by the farmers in supplying of milk was analysed using the garret ranking technique. It can be observed from the Table 1 that, among the constraints faced by the farmers ‘lack of timely veterinary services’ which occupied first rank with mean score 75.25. This suggests that the inadequate availability of veterinary services had a significant, impact on the dairy industry’s productivity and health Similar results were reported by Prakash (2011), where the major constraint expressed by the respondents was ‘lack of timely veterinary services.
Following closely in rank II is the “cost of concentrate feed,” This indicates that the high cost of concentrate feed was a significant concern, as it affects the overall profitability and economic viability of dairy farming operations. The high cost of purchasing feed can significantly impact a farmer’s profitability, especially if milk prices remain stagnant or low, also reported by
Rajasekhar (2017).
The third constraint in Rank III is the “low availability of green fodder”. The limited access to nutritious green fodder affects the quality of feed for livestock, impacting their productivity and overall health. Low productivity of local breeds was given as Ⅳ constraint. Farmers are preferred to rear exotic breeds jersey and Holstien Friesian rather than local native breeds due the high yielding capacity of the exotic breeds. The fifth constraint with rank Ⅴ and mean score of 42.19 was difficulty in accessing credit. Inability to access credit can lead to debt burdens for dairy farmers.
Next in Rank VI is the “inadequate knowledge about feeding,” with a mean score of 38.96. This emphasized the importance of education and training to equip farmers with appropriate feeding practices for their livestock. Lastly, the “remunerative price for milk” constraint secures rank VII, with the lowest mean score of 27.98. This suggests that despite other challenges, the issue of milk price remuneration is relatively less pressing in comparison.
The major problem faced by the dairy farmers was lack of timely availability of veterinary services. FPO’s or dairy companies can maintain the records of number of cattle the famers are rearing, age particulars etc., so that they can provide the vaccination services to the farmers at right time on group basis.
Some research has to be taken up on the objective to ways to increase the production of the local breeds. This also helps to protect our local breeds from decreasing their number.
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