Profitability of dairy and goat production system: A multivariate typology of farm households

Abstract

Using households' data from four different agro-climatic zones of Maharashtra, a typology was developed with an aim to identify factors influencing the profitability of dairy and goat production system. Multivariate statistical techniques, i.e. Cluster analysis (CA) were used to classify the groups of farm households with similar farm characteristics into four homogenous clusters, (1) households possessing small landholding, a larger high yielding dairy stock with small goat flock size, (2) households having small landholding with a small stock of high yielding dairy animal and small goat flock size, (3) households having large landholding with large high yielding dairy stock and small flock size, (4) households possessing small landholding with small high yielding dairy stock and large flock size. The households with small high yielding dairy stock and large flock size were most profitable than others because of scale of economies, while households with larger high yielding dairy stock and small flock size were least profitable, implying a need for more integration of Dairy+Goat unit to augment profitability. Price of milk, total SAU and flock size has been identified as the main factors influencing profitability. This implies that increase in number of SAU, flock size and price of milk can augment profitability in dairy and goat production system.