Training Needs Assessment of Tribal Farmers of Madhya Pradesh in Animal Husbandry Practices

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1 VETERINARY CLINICAL SCIENCE Journal homepage: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Training Needs Assessment of Tribal Farmers of Madhya Pradesh in Animal Husbandry Practices Shruti Gour 1, M.K. Mandal 2 and Ruchi Singh 3 1 MVSc and AH Scholar, 2 Professor, 3 Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, NDVSU, Jabalpur (MP), India. *Corresponding Author Ruchi Singh drruchivet@gmail.com Received: 14/12/2015 Revised: 27/12/2015 Accepted: 29/12/2015 Abstract The present study was conducted to assess the training needs of tribal people of Madhya Pradesh in A.H. practices. The study was conducted in randomly selected 10 villages (five villages each) of Mandla and Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. Data were collected through a structured interview schedule from 150 tribal livestock owners by personal interview method. The weighted mean method was adopted for assessing training needs of tribal livestock farmers. The major four thrust areas of animal husbandry practices namely; feeding, breeding, health care practices and management were included. The findings of the study revealed that management practices was the most important area and ranked first by the respondents for the purpose of training (mean weighted 2.47). The second rank was assigned to the area of feeding practices with a mean weighted of 2.2 followed by health care practices (mean weighted 2.26) and breeding practices (mean weighted 2.20), respectively. Therefore realistic planning for education and training need to be done to enhance the knowledge level of tribal people. Simultaneously, it can also be suggested that the tribal livestock owners should be acquainted with improved A.H. practices in general with respect to management and feeding practices in particular through appropriate extension programmes (training, awareness campaign, exhibitions, demonstration etc) to obtain more output from their livestock. 1. Introduction Tribal are very much primitive in nature, under developed and livelihood are principally depends on agriculture and animal husbandry based production system. The tribes of Madhya Pradesh have preserved very remarkably the distinct way of life in small isolated communities that deprived them of the fruits of the scientific and technological advances. Tribal livestock owners can adopt new technology if they have knowledge about it. So, exposure to and use of appropriate information by poor livestock owners will help them to improve knowledge enabling them to obtain more output from their livestock. Training of tribal livestock owners had assumed further importance and urgency in the context of animal husbandry practices. In order to make training meaningful and effective, it is imperative on the part of the training organization to identify the training needs of the farmers based on which suitable training modules can be developed. Hardly any systematic data Key words: Training Needs, Livestock Farmers, Tribal, Animal Husbandry. on knowledge level and perceived training needs of tribal livestock owners is available pertaining to animal husbandry practices. With this backdrop in mind, the present study was conducted with objective to ascertain the training needs of the farmers regarding recommended animal husbandry practices. 2. Materials and Methods The training needs of tribal livestock owners were assessed by means of a three-point continuum namely 'most ' (MN), 'somewhat ' (SN) and 'least ' (LN) which have been assigned s of 3, 2 and 1, respectively. The results were calculated as weighted for each of the thrust area identified (feeding, management, breeding and health care practices) for the training (Appendix-IV). Score (WS) = ( of MN x 3) + ( of SN x 2) + ( of LN x 1) Total of MN + SN + LN

2 If all the selected farmers in a particular district marks that thrust area X is most then the WS will be 3. If all the selected farmers in a particular district marks that thrust area X is somewhat, then the WS will be 2. If all the selected farmers in a particular district marks that thrust area X is not, then the WS will be Locale of the Study The present study was conducted purposively in Mandla and Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh as these two districts have a sizeable proportion of tribal population. Five villages were selected randomly from each district (i.e. Mandla and Seoni) for the present study. 2.2 Selection of Respondents Initially, an exhaustive list of tribal households was prepared from the selected villages. Then, from each district a total sample of 75 tribal livestock owners were selected on the basis of Random Proportionate Sampling (RPS) method. Thus, the final sample was comprised of 10 villages and 150 tribal livestock owners as respondents (n=150). The name of the villages and distribution of tribal livestock owners is presented in Table Results and Discussion In this study training needs were operationalised as the expressed level of training by the tribal livestock owners in each of the areas pertaining to animal husbandry practices. It was assessed by personal interview method using structured interview schedule. The results were calculated as weighted and accordingly rank was given for each of the thrust area of animal husbandry practices identified for the training. 3.1 Training Needs in Management Practices The data presented in Table 2 shows that among the various sub- areas of management practices, proper disposal of animal carcass and waste was the most important area ranked first by the tribal livestock owners with a weighted The second rank was given to the sub area of animal hygiene and milking hygiene (weighted 2.62) followed by care of new born calves (weighted 2.50), milking techniques (weighted 2.40), care at calving (weighted 2.39), methods of drying off lactating animal (weighted 2.36) and castration (weighted 2.35), respectively. These findings are in consonance with the findings of Gangil et al. (2005), Patil et al. (2009) and Patel et al. (2012) 3.2 Training Needs in Breeding Practices The data presented in Table 3 reveals that according to need hierarchy in breeding practices, the tribal livestock owners assigned first rank to knowledge about different breeds (weighted 2.45) followed by identification of infertility problems (weighted 2.37), knowledge about artificial insemination (weighted 2.34), identification of heat symptoms (weighted 2.27), selection of animals (weighted 2.17), time of insemination (weighted 2.15), pregnancy diagnosis (weighted 2.09) and knowledge of maintenance of records ( weighted 1.76), respectively. These findings are in consonance with the findings of Sah et al. (2002). 3.3 Training Needs in Feeding Practices A perusal of Table 4 reveals that the tribal livestock owners perceived the most important area for training in feeding practices of livestock was preparation of balanced ration using locally available feed items (weighted 2.61) followed by use of kitchen and farm waste in feed (weighted 2.51), feeding of milch animal (weighted 2.44), feeding of pregnant animals (weighted 2.29), feeding of sick animals (weighted 2.20), feeding of newly born calf (weighted 2.14), importance of clean water for drinking (weighted 2.04) and feeding of mineral mixture (weighted 2.02), respectively. The similar results were also reported by Gangil et al. (2005) and Patil et al. (2009). 3.4 Training Needs in Health Care Practices The data presented in Table 5 indicates that among the various sub-areas of animal health care practices, the respondents were perceived the contagious diseases and its symptoms as the most important area of training with a weighted of 2.50 followed by first aid treatment (weighted 2.47), knowledge about common diseases (weighted 2.43), control of ectoparasites (weighted 2.31), measures used to reduce disease incidences (weighted 2.29), care of sick animals (weighted 2.26), vaccination (weighted 2.19), deworming (weighted 2.06) and knowledge of zoonotic diseases (weighted 1.5), respectively. These findings are in consonance with the findings of Gangil et al. (2005) and Patil et al. (2009). 3.5 Overall Training Needs in Animal Husbandry Practices Animal husbandry is an important source of livelihood for tribal livestock owners and thus they should be given training on various areas of livestock rearing. The data presented in Table 6 reveals that among the four areas of animal husbandry practices, 1

3 Table 1: Village wise distribution of tribal livestock owners (n=150) District Block Villages Total no. of of tribal selected households respondents Mandla Mandla Sunharamal Dungariya Behenga Dheko Malpathar Total Seoni Kurai Vijaypani Setevani Mohgav Jirevarha Potiya Total Table 2: Training needs in management practices 1 Care at calving V 2 Methods of drying off of lactating animal VI 3 Care of newborn calves III 4 Proper disposal of animal carcass and waste I 5 Milking techniques IV 6 Castration VII 7 Animal hygiene and milking hygiene II Table 3: Training needs in breeding practices 1 Selection of animals V 2 Knowledge about different breeds I 3 Identification of heat symptoms IV 4 Knowledge about A.I III 5 Time of insemination VI 6 Pregnancy diagnosis VII 7 Identification of fertility problems II Knowledge of maintenance of record VIII management practices was the most important area and ranked first by the respondents for the purpose of training (mean weighted 2.47). The second rank was assigned to the area of feeding practices with a mean weighted of 2.2 followed by health care practices (mean weighted 2.26) and breeding practices (mean weighted 2.20), respectively. The similar results were also reported by Jiji and 19

4 Table 4: Training needs in feeding practices 1 Preparation of balanced ration using locally available feed items I 2 Feeding of newly born calf VI 3 Feeding of mineral mixture VIII 4 Feeding of pregnant animals IV 5 Feeding of milch animals III 6 Importance of clean water for drinking VII 7 Feeding of sick animals V Use of kitchen and farm waste in feed II Table 5: Training needs in health care practices 1 Knowledge about common diseases III 2 Deworming VIII 3 Care of sick animals VI 4 Contagious diseases and its symptoms I 5 Control of ectoparasites IV 6 First aid treatment II 7 Vaccination VII 9 Measures used to reduce disease incidences Knowledge of zoonotic diseases V IX Table 6: Overall training needs in animal husbandry practices No Overall weighted mean 1 Management 2.47 I 2 Feeding 2.2 II 3 Health care 2.26 III 4 Breeding 2.20 IV Rajkumar (200) and Subhadra and Durga Rani (2009). Therefore, there is a need for conducting more number of need based knowledge and skill oriented trainings among tribal livestock owners to improve the existing status of animal husbandry practices. 4. Conclusion On the basis of the results of the study the following conclusions are drawn. Among the different practices of animal husbandry, farmers give highest weighted to practices like proper disposal of animal carcass and waste (2.73), knowledge about different breeds (2.45), preparation of balanced ration using locally available feed items (2.61) and contagious diseases and its symptoms (2.50) for training need. While concerned with the four broader areas of training in animal husbandry practices, the respondents expressed their willingness/ interest to have training in the descending order as management, feeding, health care and breeding practices. Thus, the tribal livestock owners should be acquainted with improved management and feeding practices through appropriate 20

5 extension programmes (training, awareness campaign, exhibitions, demonstration etc) to obtain more output References Gangil D and Dabas YPS (2005). Effect of socioeconomic variables on the level of knowledge and training needs of livestock. Kurukshetra, 53: Jiji RS and Rajkumar N (200). Training needs of dairy farm instructions in Kerala. Journal of Dairying, Foods and Home Science, 27(2): Patel RN, Patel VT and Prajapati MM (2012). Training need of dairy farm women in dairy farming practices. AGRES- An International e-journal, 1(4): from their livestock. Patil AP, Gawande SH, Gobade MR and Nande MP (2009). Training needs of farmers in Nagpur district. Veterinary World, 2(5): Sah U, Kumar S and Fulzele RM (2002). Perceived needs of dairy farmers and farm women to improve dairy farming in India: An overview. Agriculture Review, 23(1): Durga Rani V and Subhadra MR (2009). Training needs of farm women in dairy farming. Veterinary World, 2(6):