Constraints perceived by sheep rearers in Vijayanagara and Ballari districts of Karnataka

Introduction

Sheep are a significant livestock species in India because they boost farmer's incomes, particularly in rural areas. Sheep provide assistance and support to farmers in rainfed areas when seasonal rainfall fails, resulting in crop failure. Sheep are arguably the best small ruminants to use the sparse vegetation available in dry land areas through rangeland management and reseeded pastures thanks to their faster growth rate, shorter production cycles, early sexual maturity, high-quality skin, low lambing intervals, good adaptability, ease of management, low initial capital investment, and steady returns when compared to large ruminants. (Adegbeye et al., 2020) [1] . The farming systems in developing nations like India can be divided into three categories: extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive (Rangamma, 2022) [8] , (Karthik et al., 2021) [5] . The availability of feed and fodder is a major issue for sheep rearing because grazing resources are being depleted more quickly (Kochewad et al., 2018) [6] . Even though there are several initiatives to develop sheep in various states across the nation, raising sheep is still a backward and nomadic practice, primarily affecting the poor and landless. Shepherds continue to move their herds or flocks across large areas within or even in neighboring states due to the lack of suitable grazing lands in the majority of states. Despite the fact that raising sheep is a significant husbandry practice in many regions, farmers continue to face challenges with management, feeding, marketing, and reproductive issues (Akila, 2014) [2] . The objective of the study was to identify the constraints being perceived by the respondents in Vijayanagara and Ballari districts of Karnataka.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted in Vijayanagara and Ballari districts of Karnataka, India. From each district 60 sheep farms with 20 intensive, 20 semi-intensive, and 20 extensive rearing were selected for the study. Thus forming a total sample size of 120 sheep farmers with inclusion of 40 intensive, 40 semi-intensive and 40 extensive rearing farmers. Constraints were listed under different heads interview schedule and recorded based on priority. additionally, data collection involved the use of participatory observation technique and focused group discussions. The respondents in study area were asked to rank each of the constraint relevant to them according to the degree of importance as perceived by them. As the respondents were www.extensionjournal.com not ranked uniformly the Garrett (1981) method of combining incomplete order of merit ratings was used to rank the constraints. The formula for per cent position suggested by Garrett (1981) was-Per cent position = 100 (Rij -0.50) / Nj Where Rij is the Rank given for the ith factor by the jth individual, Nj is the Number of factor ranked by the individual. The per cent positions thus obtained were converted into scores by referring the table given by Garrett. Then for each problem the scores of individual respondents were added and divided by the number of respondents. The mean score for all the problems were arranged and thus rank were assigned to the problems based on mean values. Farmers depend on modern equipments and well built shed to manage their flocks efficiently. These are capital intensive to purchase, install and even maintenance. As the animals are maintained on stall fed, feed must be purchased and sometimes the cost of the feed varies due to market demand. High quality, nutrient rich feed results in higher price. This might be the reason for foremost constraints in intensive system. Compare to other two systems more labours and long working hours required in intensive system. In semi-intensive system, due to price fluctuation feed cost becomes major constraint for the farmers. These results were in line with Choudhary et al. (2018) [4] , Shah et al. (2018) [11] where lack of credit facilities, high costs of feed and fodder were major constraints. ). These results might be due to exotic breeds are usually costly and due to its poor adaptability to local conditions these animals were maintained by rich farmers only so availability of these exotic breeds are limited to few making it major constraints in intensive rearing system. Intensive and semi-intensive farms located away from veterinary services which www.extensionjournal.com minimises the availability of veterinary care to the farmers in time especially in emergencies resulting as the major constraint. Transportation problem was major constraint for extensive farmers might be because of high cost transport charges and most of them were not possessed any vehicles. These results were in line with Azimi et al. (2022), [3] Kumar et al. (2021) [7] , Seetha et al. (2021) [10] and Reddy et al. (2018) [9] where depletion of grazing area was major constraint in their study and Choudhary et al. (2018) [4] , Thilakar and Krishnaraj. (2007) [12] where depletion of grazing area, lack of veterinary care were the major constraints. [12] where lack of technical guidance, lack of training and lack of knowledge in scientific practices were major technological constraints.

Conclusion

The findings of the study concluded that the foremost constraint perceived by the sheep farmers were the high cost of feed and labour, poor access to institutional credit and subsidies, seasonal fluctuations in mutton demand were the major socio-economic constraints. Depletion of grazing land, lack of improved breeds and quality rams, transportation challenges, especially for extensive farmers were major managemental constraints. Limited awareness of scientific management practices, poor participation in training and extension programs, lack of insurance coverage for sheep were major technological constraints.

References

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