Constraints perceived by goat farmers of Mathura and Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Goat farming is a significant livelihood activity for small and landless farmers in Uttar Pradesh, India, offering substantial potential for income generation and household nutritional security. The present investigation was conducted to identify the constraints faced by goat farmers in the breeding, feeding, health management, and marketing domains across the Mathura and Mirzapur districts. A multistage sampling method was employed, where 180 respondents (90 from each district) were selected from two randomly chosen blocks per district and three villages are randomly selected per block. Data were collected using a pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule, and Garrett's ranking technique was applied for data analysis. The results revealed that poor knowledge of pregnancy diagnosis (Garrett score 61.88) was the predominant breeding constraint, followed by lack of knowledge about breeding practices (50.66) and problems of premature delivery or abortion (46.12). In the feeding domain, lack of knowledge about balanced feeding (65.47) emerged as the most critical constraint, followed by poor awareness about mineral mixture use (62.61) and high price of concentrate feeds (47.39). Health management constraints indicated that inadequate veterinary services (61.25) was the foremost constraint, followed by insufficient knowledge about deworming and vaccination (57.66) and costly veterinary treatment (47.21). Marketing constraints identified improper goat market prices (57.31) as the primary issue, followed by poor transport and communication facilities (52.82). The study concludes that strengthening farmers’ technical knowledge, establishing doorstep veterinary services, and developing efficient market linkages are essential to enhance smallholder goat farming productivity and profitability in the region.