Constraints perceived by dairy farmers in central plain zone of Punjab

Abstract

The present study was conducted in central plain zone (CPZ) of Punjab by personally interviewing 150 dairy farmers by using well structured interview schedule. Garrett’s ranking technique was used to prioritize the different sets of constraints in terms of their mean score. The study revealed that ‘lack of knowledge about schemes of A.H department’ (61.26) and ‘absence of milk testing facilities in study area’ (56.84) were major infrastructural constraints. Under technical constraints; ‘lack of knowledge about value addition of milk and milk by-products’ (60.58) and ‘lack knowledge about clean milk production’ (56.60) were the major ones. ‘Low economic gain from dairy enterprise’ (58.64) and ‘lack of credit facilities’ (54.63) were main economic constraints. Under marketing constraints; ‘lack of knowledge about marketing strategies’ (56.72) and ‘difficulty in marketing of milk and milk products’ (56.62) were major ones. ‘Lack of knowledge about various mobile applications related to scientific dairy farming practices’ (56.17) and ‘very few information of livestock management daily newspaper/daily samachar’ (55.85) were the major communicational constraints. Hence, there is a need to remove these constraints on priority basis so that farmers can run their dairy venture based entrepreneurial activities in a smooth and sustainable manner.