Goat marketing and pricing pattern in eastern Uttar Pradesh

Introduction

India has 117 million goats which is 22.5% of world goat population and rank first in the world (FAO, 1994) Goat farming in India is mainly practiced by socially and economically backward class of households. Due to poor investment capacity of these households, goat farming could not attain the status of commercial farming The population of goats in India is increasing whereas the scope of goat farming is mainly dependent on availability of proper markets for goats, their products and by products The performance of goat market is mainly determined by the structure of the markets, the channels through which the goats are transacted and the marketing costs Under the present scenario. marketing is an essential as well as an inevitable component of any production system. Therefore, the present experiment was undertaken to study the some of the aspects of marketing system of goats. The questionnaires were employed for investigating the sale and pricing pattern of goats owned by respondents from the two markets viz market-1 (Semariyawan) and market 2 (Hallore) of Basti districts of Uttar Pradesh from April to August 1999. The selection of eastern UP for this study was based on the fact that goat derisity was higher in this area than other region of UP Semariyawan and Hallore are predominantly goat market hence purposely selected for study Semiryawan market is the largest goat market in the Basti division followed by Hallare. The traders from Nepal. Bihar. and Bengal also visit this market for purchasing the goats. The distance covered by goats farmers. mode of transportation, number of goats brought by farmers, sex, age, health status of animal, feeding and watering of animals at the market, reason of selling of the animals, price received and marketing channel existing at markets were some of the issues investigated in present study: The price received by goat farmers was analyzed for the effect of age, sex, health status and market using least-square technique The study revealed that the both the market surveyed are wholesale as well as retail market and covers area of up to 25 km radius. The goat farmers-Itinerant traders and wholesale traders were involved in goat trading in both the market. But the principal marketing channel prevailing in the area was goat farmers-first middlemanbutcher and consumer Das et al (1999) [2] , Rathore (1993) [4] and Basuthakur (1988) [1] also observed similar results.

The perusal of Table showed that most of the persons involved in goat trading in the two markets (83.75 at market-I and 73% at market-2) under study came from a distance of up to 10 km The traders or the goats coming to these markets from the distance more than 10 km were very few in number, however, at market 2 (Hallore) somme traders came even from more than 25 km). Comparing the means of transportation for goats to bring them to the market, it was found that in both the markets goat meners used mainly walking followed by bicycle and rickshaw Few goat owners also used jeep truck and tractors Devendra and McLeroy (1982) [3] also explained variety of transportation in goat marketing. At the both markets maximum owners (291% and 28.9%) marketed more than 5 goats at a time. However, flock size generally ranged from 2 to 3 In contrast to present finding Das et al (1999) [2] reported that maximum farmers sold only one goat at a time in Bareilly district of LP The four major reasons for the sale of goats by the owners were reported in both the market (i) urgent need of money, (i) surplus animals, (ii) scarcity of feed/fodder and (iv) health of goats It was observed that in both the markets (Table 1) the main reason of selling of goats was urgent need of money (67.3% and 62.2%) Surplus animals were also another major cause of selling of goats At both the market majority of the goat farmers offered water to animals, however 4 to 9% owners offered nothing to their goats. Regarding health status and type of animals sold at both the market results showed that proportion of male and healthy goats were more than female and weak goats (Table 21. It was also, observed that about 80% animals marketed were young followed by adult (102 and 88 goats at the corresponding markets) About 4-5 old goats) were also marketed in both the markets. The goat farmers received higher price from female then male (Table 3) at both the markets (Rs. 958.50 vs 828.03 and 1026.83 vs 970.00), the reasons might be due to fact that consumer visited the markets are interested in Purchasing of females for breeding purpose and rearing, and the females coming for sale were usually of higher body weight and were at breeding age. Thus the buyers for their household rearing preferred breedable goats. Health status and sex of goats significantly affected the price of goats in different categories Healthy animals were the consumers/buyers choice to give more prices. Market effect was found significant only on price of adult goats. At market 1 Le. Semariyawan farmers received more price than the market 2 (Hallore), which might be due to presence of more traders in the market, influencing price. At both the market, the occupation of traders was goat keepers, middleman and butchers.

Conclusion

The study concludes that goat marketing in Eastern Uttar Pradesh is influenced by factors such as health, age, sex, and market type. Healthy and female goats received higher prices, primarily due to demand for breeding. Most sales were driven by urgent financial needs, with walking as the main mode of transportation. Semariyawan market offered better prices than Hallore, likely due to higher trader presence. Strengthening market infrastructure and providing support to small-scale farmers can enhance profitability and promote sustainable goat farming in the region.

References

1. Basuthakur AK. Sheep research production and marketing in India. 1 st ed. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications Ltd. Inc.; 1988. p. 336.
2. Das KS, Srivastva BB, Das N. A study of goat marketing system prevalent in two animal markets around Bareilly city, Indian Journal of animal Production and Management. Indian J Anim Prod Manag. 1999;15:146140.
3. Devendra C, McLeroy GB. Goat and Sheep Production in Tropics. 1st Edn. London and New York: Longman; 1982. p. 220-221.
4. Rathore MS. Marketing of goats in Rajasthan, Indo-Swiss goat development and fodder production project. Ajmer; 1993. p. 31.
5. Kumar A, Kushwaha BP. Small Ruminant Production in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal regional Perspectives. Indian J Small Rumin. 2003:1-5.