Differential dairy development status in India: A perception analysis

Abstract

Present study analysed factors responsible for differential status of dairy farming in India as perceived by stakeholders. Study was conducted in purposively selected three states namely Haryana, Maharashtra and Odisha from highly, moderately and least dairy progressive states by stratified random sampling, respectively. From each selected state, three districts based on milk yield, one block from each district and two villages from each block were randomly selected. From each village 50 dairy farmers and 10 other stakeholders were selected from each block for the study. Thus, total sample size was 990 from 18 villages which include 900 farmers and 90 other stakeholders. Data were collected from the respondents using pretested structured interview schedule. The major perceived factors responsible for limiting the growth of dairying in Maharashtra and Odisha were migration of rural population to cities, small scale of production, limited doorstep services by Government extension agents, poor veterinary institutional facilities, low quality of semen availability, unavailability of green fodder round the year, poor genetic potential of the milch animal, unavailability of irrigation sources. Proper planning and thrust to address the issues through development of organized marketing network, improvement in fodder, pasture and irrigation resources, development of fodder banks in scarcity zone, quality improvement through cross breeding or selective breeding would improve the genetic potential of dairy animals. Conservation and spread of elite indigenous dairy animals such as Sahiwal, Gir and Tharparkar etc. will help to reduce the regional imbalance and to attain equitable growth of dairy sector to attain future demand of milk.