Constraints faced by dairy farm women in managing their dairy enterprise in Uttarakhand

The present study was conducted in Nainital district of Uttarakhand to analyze the constraints perceived by the dairy farm women while managing the dairy enterprise. Total 120 respondents were selected from five villages of Haldwani block that have maximum milk production. Regarding infrastructural constraints, 90 per cent farm women had lack of improved equipments and 72.5 per cent had low average milk yield of the milch animals. In economic constraints, nearly eighty per cent expressed low price of milk offered and 74 per cent faced high cost of cross-bred cow. As regards to marketing constraints, 65.83 per cent had irregular sale of milk and 70.83 per cent had less knowledge about marketing techniques. In technical constraints, majority i.e. 82.5 per cent farm women had lack of technical guidance and 98.33 per cent expressed lack of training facilities in dairy sector while 91.67 per cent farm women expressed inadequate information about government schemes related to dairy sector.

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Introduction

According to latest 20th Livestock Census 2019, conducted by Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, the total livestock population in the country is 536.76 million and total cattle population in the country is 193.46 million. In India, the major portion of livestock population belonged to rural areas with the percentage of 95.78% i.e. 514.11 million and remaining 22.65 million were present in urban areas which constitute only 4.22% of total livestock population. In rural India, dairy farming has been practiced along with agriculture as they both are intertwined with each other. Thus, dairy farming as an enterprise can be a better option for generating employment and income in rural areas. Giridhara (2013) [5] reported that every woman is an entrepreneur as she manages, organizes and assures responsibility for running her house. She is known as a person who accepts a social and family life and makes a balance between them by accepting various challenges for fulfilling their needs and requirements. Rural woman especially shoulders major responsibility not only on domestic front but her contribution in agriculture and allied activities cannot be denied. She has potential for economic transformation and social development of the Nation. According to Patel et al. (2019) [7] rural women perform numerous labour intensive jobs in relation to the livestock activities starting from caring of animals, bringing fodder from fields, chaffing the fodder, cleaning of animals and sheds, milking, making milk products to marketing the milk products. The process of dairy development would be incomplete and lopsided, unless farm women are fully involved in it. Sati (2016) [8] stated that dairy farming is main activity and source of livelihood of livestockdependent farming communities in Uttarakhand. It involves with natural resources base-forest/rangelands, croplands, livestock breeds, feeding, health management, marketing, and consumption of the product. Smallholder dairy farming has enormous potential. It can contribute to family income, generate gainful employment especially for women, elevate living standards of the producer, fight malnutrition especially amongst children and enhances sustainable agriculture. But dairy farm women face many difficulties while doing dairy farming. With the advancement of involving technology into agriculture and allied sectors, women face many constraints while managing their dairy enterprise.

Research Methodology

The present study was conducted in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. Nainital district was selected purposively because it has maximum milk production. Among eight blocks of Nainital district, Haldwani block was purposively selected because it has maximum milk production and dairy entrepreneurs. Total 120 respondents were selected from the five villages who have more than five number of herd size through proportional allocation method. The information regarding various constraints was measured by scale developed by Chaudhary et al. ( 2007) [3] with some modifications. The data were collected with the help of www.extensionjournal.com well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The data was analyzed through standard statistical methods such as frequency and percentage to draw the results.

Results and Discussion

Constraints imply the problems and difficulties faced by dairy farm women while doing day-to-day animal husbandry activities in their dairy enterprise. It is evident from Table 1 that 90 per cent respondents pointed out lack of improved equipments as the major infrastructural constraints, followed by low average milk yield of the milch animals by 72.50 per cent respondents. The other constraints reported were unavailability of green fodder throughout the year (62.50%), irregular and inadequate supply of cattle feeds (47.50%), unavailability of emergency veterinary services (42.50%) and only 39.16 per cent respondents expressed unavailability of vaccines as a constraint and 35 per cent had unavailability of cattle feed and fodder seed on credit. It was concluded that most of the dairy farm women had no new improved equipments because they were residing in rural areas. Some respondents had problem of green fodder throughout the year because of small and fragmented land holding.

S. No.	Constraints	Respondents (n=120)	—
Infrastructural constraints		Frequency	Percentage
1.	Lack of improved equipments	108	90.00
2.	Irregular and inadequate supply of cattle feeds	57	47.50
3.	Unavailability of emergency veterinary services	51	42.50
4.	Unavailability of vaccines	47	39.16
5.	Unavailability of green fodder throughout the year	75	62.50
6.	Low average milk yield of the milch animals	87	72.50
7.	Unavailability of cattle feed and fodder seed on credit	42	35.00
Economic constraints
1.	High cost of fodder seeds	88	73.33
2.	Low price of milk offered	95	79.16
3.	High cost of cross-breed cow	89	74.16
4.	High cost of veterinary medicines	71	59.16
5.	Low provision of loan in society or government for purchasing cattle	83	69.16
6.	High charges for emergency veterinary services	66	55.00
7.	High charges for cattle insurance	62	51.67
Marketing constraints
1.	Irregular sale of milk	79	65.83
2.	Lack of time for marketing	65	54.16
3.	Less knowledge about marketing techniques	85	70.83
4.	Lack of skills for value added products	58	48.33
Technical constraints
1.	Lack of technical guidance	99	82.50
2.	Unavailability of high genetic bull	55	45.83
3.	Poor conception rate through artificial insemination	58	48.33
4.	Lack of training facilities in dairy sector	118	98.33
5.	Poor knowledge about feeding and health care	77	64.16
6.	Lack of knowledge about cheap and scientific housing of animals	88	73.33
Miscellaneous constraints
1.	Poor socio-economic conditions	60	50.00
2.	Poor purchasing power	50	41.67
3.	Lack of cooperation and coordination among family members	30	25.00
4.	Poor rapport to extension agencies	105	87.50
5.	Low social mobility of dairy farm women	77	64.16
6.	Inadequate information about government schemes related to dairy enterprise.	110	91.67

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Distribution of dairy farm women according to constraints faced by them during managing the dairy enterprise (n=120)

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Regarding economic constraints data in Table 1, nearly eighty per cent (79.16%) dairy farm women expressed low price of milk offered as the major constraint, followed by high cost of cross breed cow by 74.16 per cent respondents. The other constraints reported were high cost of fodder seeds (73.33%), low provision of loan in society (69.16%), high cost of veterinary medicines (59.16%), high charges for emergency services (55.00%) and high charges for cattle insurance (51.67%). It was concluded that maximum number of dairy farm women expressed low price of milk offered, high cost of cross breed cow and high cost of fodder seeds as major economic constraints. About 70.83 per cent dairy farm women possessed less knowledge about marketing techniques as the major marketing constraints. The other marketing constraints were irregular sale of milk (65.83%), lack of time for marketing the milk and milk products (54.16%) and only 48.33 per cent had shown lack of skills for value added products. It might be due to the reason that dairy farm women were less educated and involved much in household chores rather than marketing the milk products. Lack of knowledge of dairy farm women led to selling of dairy products in nearby areas only. [2] , Chaurasiya et al. (2017) [4] , Panchbhai et al. (2017) [6] and Adhikari (2018) [1] who also concluded that most of the dairy respondents expressed lack of improved equipments, unavailability of green fodder, high cost of cross breed cows, lack of technical guidance and marketing techniques, lack of training facilities and inadequate knowledge about government schemes related to dairy sector as major constraints faced by them in managing the dairy enterprise.

Conclusion

Dairy farming as an enterprise can be a better option for rural farm women if they are properly organized, trained and equipped with improved technology. The major constraints faced by dairy farm women were lack of improved equipments, low price of milk offered, less knowledge about marketing techniques, lack of training facilities and inadequate information about government schemes in dairy sector. The extension workers should make efforts to educate women about new subsidies and other government schemes so that they could earn sufficient profit to make dairy a profitable enterprise. Further, dairy farm women should be trained in negotiation skills and avail subsidies to strengthen and manage the dairy efficiently.

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