Vol. 10, Special Issue 9 (2021)

Author(s):
NV Kavithaa, C Manivannan, N Vimal Rajkumar, P Kumarasamy and S Manokaran

Abstract:
The present study was conducted in Coimbatore, Erode, Karur and Tirupur districts of Tamil Nadu with an objective to ascertain socio-economic characteristics of farmers who are rearing Kangayam cattle. By adopting snowball sampling technique, 50 Kangayam cattle farmers were identified and selected from each district, thus a total of 200 respondents were selected for the study. A well-structured, pre - tested interview schedule was developed for collection of data and the data was analyzed by using appropriate statistical methods. Results revealed that majority (60.00 per cent) of the respondents belonged to the old age group, 27.50 per cent of the respondents were educated up to secondary level of formal education, 65.00 per cent belonged to nuclear family setup. Majority (58.00 per cent) of farmers had 2.5 to 5 acres of land and belonged to small farmers category, 47.50 per cent had medium annual income of 3.06 lakhs to 4.05 lakhs. More than half of the respondents (67.00 per cent) were primarily agricultural farmers and kept the animal husbandry as their secondary source of income. Forty three per cent of the Kangayam cattle farmers possessed medium level (three to five TLU) of Kangayam herd size, 63.50 per cent of respondents possessed medium experience in Kangayam cattle farming. Majority (58.50 per cent) of the respondents had medium level of extension agency contact, 49.00 per cent had medium level of mass media usage, 47.00 per cent of farmers had high level of participation in the activities of local social organisations and 57.00 per cent had medium level of decision making behavior. More than one – half of the farmers (51.50 per cent) belonged to medium level of risk orientation, 49.00 per cent of the respondents had medium level of economic motivation. It was found that majority of the farmers maintain this breed as a traditional practice for livelihood, agriculture and draught purpose. Hence, programmes should be made in such a way that by involving the local community for conservation of the breed and also to get more returns from the existing system of livestock farming thereby enhancing the livelihood of the farmers.