Urban Perspectives on Dairy Farming and Milk Consumption: A Study in Chitrakoot District of Bundelkhand Region, India

Abstract

The dairy farming in India are significantly supported by small-scale and marginal farmers for producing milk. The growing commercialization of dairy farming, variety of products, education, consumer awareness and limitless access to any other information may have played an important role towards consumer’s perception and their buying behavior for milk products.  In the present study, 120 milk consuming households were surveyed with the help of a structured and pre-tested questionnaire to construct Perception Index towards dairy farming and milk consumption in Chitrakoot district. The over-all perception index was found 67.71 which indicated that consumers have a positive perception towards the milk consumption and dairy farming.  Consumer households recorded higher positive perception towards economic benefits (76.58) followed by nutritional and health implications of milk (75.73).  They, nevertheless, were worried by milk safety (55.91) and its ethics (58.80).  To ensure the long-term sustainability of the dairy sector in India, consumer awareness programs, inspection of milk products, quality control management are necessary to remove the apprehensions in the mind of consumers.