Mobile Extension Advisory Services (MEAS) on sheep rearing in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana state

Introduction

The Total Sheep population in India is 66 Million and out of which 80% is located in 6 states. In this 40% are non-descript animals and rest comprise of pure/graded, cross bred or exotic animals, details of which are given below (Integrated Sample Survey 2015* and 19 th Livestock Census, 2012). Dissemination of needed information to farmers is the heart of the extension services, whereas, almost all extension services lack something crucial. Lack of extension services in combination with a continuing gap in access to resources, inputs and technologies, negatively affects sheep farmers' ability to create sustainable livelihoods from their farms. Access to information through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is critical to economic growth, especially in resource constrained environments (Donner, 2008) [2] , which can aid greatly in rural development and poverty reduction due to an increase in local people's ability to obtain information. ICT could be used in rural areas to share knowledge through mobile phones. The diffusion of mobile phones is now in take-off stage with rapid adoption in rural areas, one of the most profound changes in many developing countries in the past decade (GSM, 2008) [3] . According to TRAI, 48 million rural consumers of India took a new mobile phone connection in the first six months of calendar 2009 compared with just 32 million in the cities (Thomas, 2009) [4] . This trend of using cell phones in rural areas can be used as an opportunity to apply its potentials in disseminating information that would help in improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural poor. Among livestock farmers by opening up the opportunities in accessing information about various farming practices, markets for livestock products, weather, disease risk and collecting information on disease outbreaks which would strengthen veterinary services. It has given a wider scope of approach to the extension personnel to reach out the livestock farmers with its three fold communication functions of 'provision and co-ordination and support of information' (Blau and Scott, 1962) [1] , Mobiles act as catalyst to transfer information to the needy one by Short Message Service (SMS) alerts, Toll free call centers, mobile advisory etc. Of all the mobile value added services, SMS is most ubiquitous service used by the all sections of the rural people as it provides the advantage of being available even with the basic handset models. SMS service is provided in two forms, text based and voice based, which have the potential to deliver the www.extensionjournal.com timely information. MEAS it is operationally defined as the usage of potential of mobile phones in terms of providing advisory services; through voice messages, text messages and whatsapp messages to address the constraints faced by the sheep rearers. Hence, an attempt is made to study the Constraints redressal in sheep rearing through Mobile Extension Advisory Services (MEAS) in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana state where good number of sheep population were noticed. The study is aimed to provide need based, relevant, location specific and timely information to the sheep farmers.

Methodology

The present research study was undertaken in the state of Telangana purposively because it had 5.52 per cent of country's sheep population and was implementing prestigious Sheep Rearing Developing Programme (SRDP) worth of 5000 crores. Mahabubnagar district was purposively selected by the researcher as the district was having 2 nd highest sheep population (2012 census) in Telangana state. When we took up the study, the Sheep Rearing Development Programme (SRDP) was also being implemented in this District. Representing all the four mandals was chosen adopting Simple random sampling method. Thus a sample size of 60 was selected for the study and then they were subjected to Mobile Extension Advisory Services (MEAS) on constraints in sheep rearing. To redress the 18 identified constraints, 53 scientific suggestions were collected from the literature after thorough scrutiny in terms easily understandable, simple, unambiguous, practicable and feasible. These 53 scientific suggestions were translated into local language (i.e. Telugu) and were transmitted to the 60 respondent. The care was taken while identifying the respondents should have had mobile phone with internet facility. So the scientific suggestions were sent to these respondents in terms of voice messages, text messages. Constraints in sheep rearing were obtained through analysis of the secondary data. The constraints on scientific sheep rearing were collected from different published sources viz: literature and published articles of national and international repute which have significance to the sheep rearing in the state of Telangana. Thus a total of 82 constraints were identified and were subjected to the "Delphi technique" to prioritize them. Newly born lambs must be fed with colostrum milk within half an hour of their birth which will develop disease resistance and provide complete nutrition for growth.

Results and Discussion

2.

Up to 1 week age of the lambs, feed with colostrum milk about 3 times per day and then 2 times per day till next 2 weeks of age.

3.

Creep ration formulation (Up to 3 months of age): Ground maize-65 parts, Groundnut cake-10 parts, Wheat bran-12 parts, Fish meal-10 parts, Mineral mixture-2 parts, Common salt-1 part. Creap ration will enable the Lambs to gain body weight about 150 grams per day.

4.

Growing period (3-6 months age): maize-27 parts, Groundnut cake (GNC)-35 parts, Wheat bran-35 parts, Mineral mixture -2 parts, Common salt-1 part, Roughage feeding free is choice.

5.

Adult sheep feeding: Roughage requirement will be taken care by usual grazing but during lean period we should give 150 gr. of concentrate mixer/day. The concentrate feed should comprise of Groundnut cake-20%, Maize-20%, Wheat bran 60% and salt with mineral mixture must be fed.

6.

Flushing: 2 weeks prior to breeding when rams are allowed to mate ewes, so 150 to 200 gr. Of concentrate mixture should be provided along with good quality forages (cowpea, oat, green grass, and berseem). It conditions the animal and induces maturation of more no. of follicles and thus improves conception rate and twinning rate.

7.

Breeding Rams feeding: Green fodders like Maize, Berseem, Lucerne, Cowpea, Oat hay feeding would meet all requirements of breeding rams. If forages fed are of poor quality like straw or sorghum hay then 150-200 gm of concentrates should be fed daily.

8.

Water: Depending up on the facilities available at the farm, provide water twice a day in summer and once a day in winter is a good practice. Water requirement is 2-5 liters per day per sheep.

9.

Energy: The soluble carbohydrates, fibre, fats and oils are the sources of energy. The TDN requirement of lambs is higher than that of adult sheep. Similarly the pregnant, lactating and breeding ewes require more energy than the non-pregnant and non-lactating ones. Hence 30 kg sheep requires 350 grams of TDN per day. So daily about 1-1.5 kg of good quality cereals, molasses and oats should be given.

10.

Protein: The breeding animals need protein for prenatal growth, development of the foetus and to produce milk for post-natal growth of young ones. Generally Sheep requires 31 grams of protein per day. So urea, fish meal, soybean meal and poultry litter should be given in equal ratio.

11.

Vitamin A, D and E: Sources of these vitamins are green fodders, cereals, fish oils and concentrates. And also salt @ 2-8 grams/day/sheep should be provided as it has an important regulatory function in the body.

Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) are interrelated in the development and maintenance of the skeleton. Deficiencies may result in rickets. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus in the sheep's diet should be at least 2:1. Sources of calcium and phosphorus: -is Bone meal, Limestone, Sodium Phosphate, Trace mineral mixer.

13.

Daily grazing of sheep for 10 to 12 hours would enable them. To meet their dry matter requirements. Lambs are grazed separately from adults to prevent parasitic infestation.

14.

Sheep kept entirely on roughage may suffer from trace mineral deficiency hence 5-8 gm of salt containing 5mg of Cu/head/day would be desirable.

15.

Dry matter requirement of adult sheep is 1 kg/day. Hence 4 kgs of green fodder/silage/cereals should be given. When pasture grass for sheep is not sufficient to meet the requirements then additional grain mixtures is required @ 150 g/day and provide clean drinking water. 16. Methods of mating: -Hand mating: In this system the females are allowed to mate one by one. A Ram or Buck will not be allowed to www.extensionjournal.com vaccination should be strictly followed. Proper disinfection of corals and equipment are with 2% lye solution.

47.

Pasteurellosis: Affected animals become depressed and go off feed. They may cough and show some respiratory distress. The disease may be acute with sudden deaths or take a course of several days. Pneumonia is treated with antibiotics. Bury dead lambs after putting lime.

48.

Sheep marketing/sales of sheep: In every village sheep co-operative societies should be established. Through these societies modern technologies in sheep rearing can be known and scientific sheep rearing methods. 49.

Exchange of breeding rams between the societies should be done at every 2-3 years.

50.

Wool cutting with machine would enable the farmers to get quality wool and higher price. Through co-operative society, wool should be sold to get more profits.

51.

Middle men should be avoided in sale of sheep. It should be done through co-operative societies to get more profits to the members of society.

52.

Sale of sheep through sandies/ by auction or middlemen or marketing co-operative societies or by direct sale to the consumer can be done.

53.

Authorized Every day, out of 53 suggestions 2 suggestions were administered to the sheep rearers at 7:00 A.M once and the same was administered at 12 noon, the 2 nd suggestion was administered at 4:00 P.M and the same was re-administered at 8:00 P.M in terms of voice message and text message. Thus all 53 suggestions were administered to the 60 respondents in the similar fashion for about nearly a month. The suggestions which were administered through voice and text messages were also administered through whatsapp voice and text messages twice in a day i.e. 7:00 A.M and 8:00 P.M this was also repeated for all the 53 scientific suggestions.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above results that final list of constraints (18) identified through Delphi technique. The results of the present study depicts that MEAS had significant impact on sheep rearers about constraints faced in scientific sheep rearing. The suggestions available on those constraints could be effectively transmitted through the potential of mobile phones in terms of MEAS. The scientific sheep rearing requires adequate knowledge on breeding, feeding, management and disease prevention; knowledge and skills are a pre requisite for successful adoption of scientific sheep farming practices. This strengthens the fact that the above variables should be well exploited by enriching further their knowledge through MEAS, which in turn might place them in early majority categories. The extension agencies pertaining to Animal Husbandry Department should motivate the sheep farmers through MEAS so as to make them successful in profitable sheep farming which ultimately improves their livelihood status.

References

1. Blau P, Scott W. Formal organizations. San Francisco, CA: Chandler Publishing Company; 1962.
2. Donner J. Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world-A review of literature. The Information Society. 2008;24(3):142-159.
3. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). Universal access: How mobile can bring communications to all. 2008.
4. Thomas KT. More mobiles ring in the rural areas than urban. Business Line. 2009 Oct 24.