Dairy farming practices adopted among the rural farmers of Telangana

Abstract

Dairy farming is one of the most significant livelihood enterprises for rural households in Telangana, contributing substantially to nutritional security, income generation and employment. Despite its economic importance, adoption of scientifically recommended dairy farming practices varies considerably across farmers due to socio-economic, institutional and infrastructural factors. The present study was undertaken to assess the adoption of dairy farming practices among rural farmers in Telangana across four major dimensions: feeding and grazing, breeding, health care and milking practices. A total of 120 dairy farmers were selected from three zones of Telangana using a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected through a structured interview schedule. Adoption rates were calculated using frequency and percentage, and dimension-wise Mean Index was computed for ranking. The findings revealed that breeding practices ranked first (Mean Index: 73.25), followed by health care (56.73), feeding and grazing (44.20), and milking practices (37.50). Nearly half of the respondents (49.17%) exhibited medium adoption, while 31.66 per cent and 19.16 per cent fell under low and high adoption categories, respectively. The study highlights major gaps in balanced feeding, preventive health care, and hygienic milk production practices, emphasizing the need for targeted extension interventions and capacity-building initiatives to enhance dairy productivity and rural livelihoods in Telangana.