Tribal dairy farming status in the Northern Hills Zone of Chhattisgarh state, India - An survey research

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1 Asian J. Dairy & Food Res, 35 (4) 2016 : Print ISSN: / Online ISSN: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE Tribal dairy farming status in the Northern Hills Zone of Chhattisgarh state, India - An survey research P. Mooventhan 1 *, K.S. Kadian 2, R. Senthil Kumar 3, A. Manimaran 4 and A. Sakthivel Selvan 5 ICAR- National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Raipur, Chhattisgarh , India. Received: Accepted: DOI: /ajdfr.v35i ABSTRACT This survey research was carried out to explore the existing dairy farming status in the tribal populated districts of northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh state. Dairy sector has huge potential to generate rural employment and assures the nutritional security to rural folk who belongs to weaker section of the society. Chhattisgarh state is still in primordial stage in dairy farming though the state has good number of cattle population compared to other leading milk producing states. To augment the dairy production in the rural areas, surveying and analysis of existing dairying status is essential and this result helps the planners, administrators, development workers, scientists and others to frame policies to implement developmental schemes. The results indicated that, more than half (56.33%) of the tribal dairy farmers falling under the category of subsistence level of dairy production system, about half (44.67 %) of the respondents possessing medium herd size, non-descript dairy cattle ranks first in the livestock category numbers (865), followed by draught animal (539), cross breeds (126), nondescript upgraded (93), Buffalo upgraded + ND (79), Scrub bulls (27) and Calves (ND + CB + BC were (146). Nondescript lactating cows had 1.24 litres/animal as an average milk production with the maximum of 2 litres and minimum of 250 ml. Crossbred, Upgraded buffaloes and Upgraded non-descript dairy animals had shown the superior milk production performance in F2 generation. Less than half (45.33%) of the tribal farmers producing less than 1.2 litres of milk per day and majority (64.67%) of the respondents selling surplus milk through middle man. Key words: Crossbred, Dairying status, Milk Consumption, Milk disposal, Tribal. INTRODUCTION Over the span of four decades, India has transformed from a country of acute milk shortage to the world s top milk producer, with the production exceeding million tonnes in In India, the dairy sector plays an important role in the country s socio-economic development and constitutes an important segment of the rural economy. Dairy industry provides livelihood to millions of homes in villages, ensuring supply of quality milk and milk products to people in both urban and rural areas (LMIS, 2015). Indian dairy sector mainly comprises of millions of small and marginal farmers in dairying who own two to three animals and produce an average of five liters per day. Livestock development in general and dairy development activities in particular are key components of pro-poor development strategies because livestock distribution is much more equitable than land distribution. Thus, changes in the dairying environment have important implications for the smallholder farmers and for poverty reduction (Meeta, 2010). Chhattisgarh state is still in primitive stage in dairy farming even though the state has good number of cattle population compared to other leading milk producing states. The rearing of cattle is mainly concentrated in central part of the state surrounding the capital city Raipur. In northern part of the state has significant number of cattle. It is observed that the rearing of livestock animals especially in rural area mainly for draught power rather than milk production. Smallholder milk productivity is very low and milk is not considered as major product. The cattle rearing system characterized by extensive grazing and low input cost based (Sanjeev et al., 2008). Dairy production is considered to be an important tool for self employment generation and to enhance the standard of living of rural folk especially small farmers, landless labours, educated unemployed and tribal community of the state. The economic viability of dairy units depend on scientific management. Therefore, it is expected that with the adoption of good dairy production practices, tribal people will be able to achieve better level of production leading to higher income. Dairy farming could help to generate millions of livelihood in the state on one hand and *Corresponding author s agriventhan@yahoo.co.in 1 ICAR- National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Raipur , Chhattisgarh, India. 2 Division of Dairy Extension, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal , Haryana, India. 3 ICAR - CIAE, Regional Centre, Coimbatore , Tamil Nadu, India. 4 ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, SRS, Bengaluru , Karnataka, India. 5 Dairy Cattle Breeding Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal , India.

2 ensure the quality and balanced nutritious food to the public on another hand. The unawareness of tribal farmers about good dairy farming practices and proper management of the dairy animals leads to low milk production. If the good dairy farming practices disseminated to the tribal dairy farmers through appropriate communication tools will increase the scientific knowledge base which will lead them economically empowered. MATERIALS AND METHODS The analysis of existing dairy farming status consist of exploring herd size, dairy production system, livestock possession, production performance of dairy cattle, milk production capacity, consumption, sale and disposal pattern. Geologically, Chhattisgarh state lies between the latitude of 17 47' and 24 06' North and longitude of 80 15' and 84 24' East. Out of 27 districts in Chhattisgarh, three districts namely Surajpur, Surguja and Balrampur were selected purposely for the study because; these districts have the highest tribal populace and significant cattle population in the Northern hills zone. From each district, four villages were selected and from each village 25 dairy tribal respondents were selected thus 300 respondents were selected. A comprehensive interview schedule was structurally prepared and the same was pre-tested with 30 tribal farmers selected from non-sampling villages. Modification was made in the schedule after pretesting was found necessary and eventually finalised before its final administration. Utmost care was taken to ensure that the items were perceptible, to the point, complete, comprehensive, and unambiguous. Further, some of the important production data were documented using a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools, participatory observation, indirect observation, on-site documentation, key informant survey and focused group discussions. Herd size: It refers to the total number of cattle and buffalo (milch animals) belonging to both indigenous and improved breeds, owned by the respondents. According to herd size possessed the respondents were categorized into small, medium and large groups by keeping mean and standard deviation as a check. The mean is the arithmetic average and is the result obtained when the sum of the values of the individuals in the data is divided by the number of individuals in the data (Panse and Sukhatme, 1967). The mean was computed by the following formula. X= x N Where, X = Mean of the scores, x = Sum of individual score and N = Number of observations Standard deviation is the square root of the arithmatic mean of the squares of all deviations, the deviations being measured from the arithmetic mean of the distribution. The standard deviation was computed by the following formula. = (X-x) 2 N Volume 35 Issue 4 (2016) 279 Where, = Standard deviation, X-x= Deviation of the individual values from the population mean and N= Total number of observations Milk production, consumption and sale: Tribal farmer s milk production, consumption and sale were calculated based on number of liters produced, consumed and sold per day. Each variable categorised in three-point continuum namely, low, medium and high based on the following suitable statistical procedures. (Low = Mean - Standard Deviation, Medium = Mean ± Standard Deviation, High = Mean + Standard Deviation). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION It could be observed from the Table 1 about half (44.67 %) of the respondents falling under the category of medium herd size followed by percent in small and percent in large herd size. Since the tribal farmers are economically backward they are unable to maintain their herd in large size. It is also due to that the respondents are not only depend on dairy alone for their livelihood and they engaged themselves in different enterprise viz., minor forest produce collection, agriculture, wage labour and inland fishing. Hence, the results obtained. Further, the result in Table 1 shows that more than half (56.33%) of the tribal dairy farmers falling under the category of subsistence level of dairy production system, followed by percent of the farmers following semiextensive and least percentage (16.00%) of respondents doing dairy farming in a intensive way. Extensive dairy farming can be characteristically described as a minimal use of farm inputs such as feed and fodder, labor, infrastructure like cattle shed, and capital such as veterinary services. In the semi-extensive system the main participants are small scale producers with small herd size. This system is low in cost with the purpose to utilize locally available resources effectively. Supplementation of additional feed and fodder, providing proper housing and veterinary care is the main features of this system of production. In intensive dairy farming, cows are kept in zero-grazing systems which means they are kept indoors where the feed and fodder is brought to the animal and they are given with high-protein diet to increase their milk yield. Table 2 indicate that non-descript dairy cattle ranks first in the livestock category numbers (865), followed by Table 1. Herd size and dairy production system in the study area Category Frequency Percent Small (< 3 animals) Medium (3-7 animals) Large (> 7 animals) Extensive (Subsistence) Semi-extensive Intensive

3 280 ASIAN JOURNAL OF DAIRY AND FOOD RESEARCH Table 2: Status of livestock holding in the study area Livestock Frequency Average herd Breeds available size per household Non-Descript (ND) Non-descript / Desi Cross Breeds (CB) Jersey cross, Holstein Friesian cross Buffalo (Upgraded (UG) + ND) Non-descript, Murrah cross, Sambalpur and Surti cross Non-Descript (UG) Sahiwal, Gir and Red Sindhi cross Calves (ND + CB + BC) Jersey cross, Holstein Friesian cross, Sahiwal, Gir and Red Sindhi cross, Murrah cross, Sambalpur and Surti cross Draught animal Non-descript, Tharparker, Ongole, Kankrej, Hariana Scrub bulls Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi, Tharparkar and Murrah Goat Jamunapari andnon-descript Pig Yorkshire, Landrays, Australian large Black and Non-descript Poultry (Backyard) Assel, Vanraj, Giriraj, Kadaknath and Desi Sheep Non-descript Draught animal (539), Cross Breeds (126), Non- Descript upgraded (93), Buffalo upgraded + ND (79), Scrub bulls (27) and Calves (ND + CB + BC were (146). Chhattisgarh is well known for its non-descript dairy animal population. Here, cattle are mainly reared for drought purpose rather than milk production. In small animal category, goats ranks first with the population of 817 followed by pig (138) and Sheep (61). Cent percent of the respondents rearing backyard poultry for egg and meat purpose. Good number of goats at tribal household indicates the importance and advantages of goatery farming. This may be due to the fact that Chhattisgarh state government distributing goat, pig and backyard poultry birds on subsidy in which 90 percent is government subsidy and 10 percent from beneficiary contribution to enhance the nutritional security and increase the standard of living of tribal as well as BPL people in the state. In the average herd size, nondescript cattle ranks first with the mean of 2.88 animals per tribal household and goat ranks first with the mean of 2.72 animals per tribal household in the small animal category. It could be observed from Table 3 that non-descript lactating cows had 1.24 liters/animal as an average milk production with the maximum of 2 liters and minimum of 250 ml. It is very low compared to national average and the production/animal is lower than the goat milk production in Rajasthan. Cross breeds lactating cows had 6.83 litres/animal as an average milk production with the maximum of 14 litres and minimum of 6 liters. Upgraded buffaloes had 4.47 liters/ Table 3: Status of milk production in the study area animal as a average milk production with the maximum of 6 liters and minimum of 4 liters. Upgraded non-descript cattle had 5.87 liters/animal as an average milk production with the maximum of 9 liters and minimum of 5 liters. A perusal of Table 4 shows that Crossbred, Upgraded buffaloes and Upgraded non-descript dairy animals had shown the superior milk production performance in F2 generation. Farmers were interested to maintain F2 generation rather than F3 generation dairy animals due to its poor climatic adaptability and high disease vulnerability. In the F2 generation, HF cow gives liters of milk followed by Jersey with the performance of litres. Non-descript buffaloes upgraded with murrah gives 6-9 litres of milk in the F3 generation and have better adaptability towards adverse climatic condition. Non-descript cattle upgraded with Gir and Sahiwal shows the equal milk production performance at F3 generation. The study analyzed the pattern of milk production, consumption, sale in the study area and the results are presented in Table 5. A critical look on Table 5 revealed that less than half (45.33%) of the tribal farmers producing less than 1.2 liters of milk per day followed by percent of the farmers producing 1.2 to 8 liters of milk per day and least percent (16.00%) producing more than 8 liters of milk per day. Looking in to the consumption pattern, little less than half (42.67 %) of the farmers consuming less than liters of milk per day followed by percent of the farmers Livestock Animals Milk Average milk Yield per animal in milk production production (in litres) per animal Max. Min. Non-Descript (ND) lactating cows ml. Cross Breeds (CB) lactating cows Non-Descript cattle (Upgraded with Gir and Shahiwal) Non-Descript Buffaloes (Upgraded with Murrah)

4 Table 4. Generation wise milk production performance of dairy cattle Volume 35 Issue 4 (2016) 281 Livestock Breeds F1 (In litres) F2 (In litres) F3 (In litres) Cross Breeds lactating cows HF Pure Gir / Shahiwal X Jersey (F1) Jersey Lactating Buffaloes (Upgraded) ND Murrah Non-Descript (Upgraded) Gir Shahiwal Non-Descript lactating cows ND 250 ml Table 5: Status of milk production, consumption and Sale in the study area Variable Category Frequency Percent Milk production(liters) Low (<1.2) Medium (1.2 to 8) High (>8) Consumption(Litres) Low (<0.550) Medium (0.550 to 1.7) High (>1.7) Milk Sale (Litres) Low (<0.300) Medium (0.300 to 6.6) High (>6.6) consuming to 1.7 liters of milk per day and least percent (26.33 %) consuming more than 1.7 liters of milk per day. In the milk disposal pattern, about percent of the tribal farmers selling their milk less than liters of milk per day followed by percent of the farmers selling to 6.6 liters of milk per day and least percent (22.33 %) selling more than 6.6 liters of milk per day. In the low input production system, major quantity of the milk produced from the non-descript cattle and the consumption also more than sale in this category. In this system of production, farmers are not prefer to sale more quantity of desi milk in turn used for family consumption because of the taste and nutritive value of the desi milk as per their believe. Hence, medium and high production category farmers are selling the milk to the market after their own consumption in turn to increase their revenue. Therefore, majority of the respondents falling under medium to high category in terms of their milk selling behaviour. It could be seen from the Table 6 that majority (64.67%) of the respondents selling surplus milk through middle man followed by percent directly to the tea shops, hotel and restaurant and least percentage (12.33%) of the respondents selling their milk directly to the local consumer s door step. The demand for fresh milk is much higher than the processed milk in the state. Traditional system of milk procurement and supply is predominantly seen in the study area. More than 80 percent of the milk is handled by unorganized sector i.e. by individuals/middleman who sells fresh milk directly to the consumer. Local milk vendors and middleman are the predominant milk procuring agents in the study area. The market price offered by these local merchant is ranges from per litre for buffalo milk and per litre for crossbred milk, this price comparatively more than the price offered by milk cooperative society. Moreover, the payments for milk were in-hand in private vendor but in the cooperative system timely payment is the major hiccup. This might be the major reason behind the failure of the milk cooperative system in the study area. These private agents effectively operating the milk trade throughout the state. The selling of the milk to the mass consumer from the private vendors hand fetch more margin which ranges from 2-3 per liter more than the collection rate at producer level. The market price of the milk is consistently fluctuations based on the supply and demand created by the private milk Table 6: Distribution of respondents based on their milk disposal pattern Variable Pattern of disposal Frequency Percent Milk disposal Through middle man (Private) Direct sale to tea shops, hotel and restaurant Direct sale to local consumer Total

5 282 ASIAN JOURNAL OF DAIRY AND FOOD RESEARCH vendors. The findings of the study are in conformity with the results reported by Sanjeev Kumar et al., (2008). The research study explored the existing tribal dairying status and the gross root realities in the marketing system. To improve the dairying status in the study area, appropriate strategies for increasing milk production should focus on increasing individual animal productivity rather than animal population. Low producing cattle and buffaloes should be improved at faster rate using emerging reproductive and molecular technologies. Selective breeding technique is a promising option for indigenous breed up gradation and enhances the potential milk yield. The priority breed for this purpose may be Sahiwal or Gir and Red Sindhi. Grading up of non-descript indigenous cattle using improver breed in the state is recommended. The policy implications have to be developed for systematic arrangement of large scale awareness campaigns and mass media could be utilized in a big way to promote the dairy farming. REFERENCES LMIS report (2015). Dairy Sector. Agriculture Skill Council of India. Accessed 10 March Meeta, P. (2010). India: Increasing demand challenges the dairy sector. FAO. I0588E05.htm. Accessed 20 June Panse, V.G. and Sukhatme, P.V. (1967). Statistical Methods for Agricultural Workers. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Sanjeev, K., Dhananjaya, B.N. and Singh A.P. (2008). The livelihood school, Milking the potentials: Study Report on Dairy Sub Sector in Chhattisgarh. Accessed 10 May 2014.