A Study on Socioeconomic Profile of Dairy Farmers in Datia and Gwalior District of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Aim: The present study was conducted to recognize the socioeconomic profile of dairy farmers of Datia and Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. Study Design: An observational study was conducted through a questionnaire developed specifically for the study. The response of every farmer was recorded by personal visits at farmer’s doorstep. Place and Duration of study: The study was conducted involving 210 dairy producers, arbitrarily selected from twenty-one villages of Datia and Gwalior districts of Madhya Pradesh during January 2022 to December 2022. Methodology: Farmers from all the seven blocks (three blocks of Datia and four blocks of Gwalior district) were selected from both the district. Questionnaire was assessed for the socioeconomic, personnel and communicative profiles of dairy producers of the both the district. Total 10 Independent Variables were measured through appropriate scales and schedules. By the schedule interview of the each farmer, the data were collected. Results: The overall dairy producers (42.4 %) were belonged to middle-aged group, had their education between middle to higher secondary (54.76 %) and belonged to OBC-category (87.14 %). The majority of dairy farmers have more than four fellows in their family (78.60 %), were members of one organisation (49.05 %) and possessing one to two hectares of land (51.90 %). Most of the farmers occupied “Agriculture + Dairy” as their main occupation (77.6 %) and having small animal holding size (44.29 %). The majority of the farmers had average extension contact (68.57 %) and had medium (60.48 %) level exposure to Mass media. Conclusion: Farmers are practicing the mixed farming in both the district. The majority of dairy farmers are having small animal holding which seems to be less remunerative and farmers need to increase the animal holding as economy of scale prevails in animal-based enterprises. Now it is noteworthy to mention that time has come for farmers to convert mixed farming into Integrated Farming System for resource recycling, ecological balance and sustainable farming.