Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
MP Surushe, Bhavana R Wankhade, AB Motghare, SS Bawaskar and Vandana S Madke

Abstract:
The present study entitled “Study on unorganized dairy sector in Mehkar tahsil of Buldhana district of Maharashtra “was carried out for the purpose to study the unorganized dairy sector cattle owners socio-economic status in year 2020-21. Ten villages of Mehkar tahsil were selected randomly for study. From each village 20 farmers were selected, total 200 farmers were selected for the study. The simple tabular method was used for the study. The results obtained from this investigation found that, the socio-economic status indicates that, the majority 63.00 per cent of the farmers were from the middle age group, 55.00 per cent of the respondents were educated up to secondary school (8th to 12th std.) level had nuclear families and the majority of the dairy farmers (59.50 per cent) had medium families (5 to 6 members) and agriculture as well as dairy is the main occupation. While, economic status revealed that the majority of unorganized dairy farmers belonged to the low level of income (Rs.<25000) group. 62.00 per cent of respondents possessed a small herd size (up to 4 animals) and 91.50 per cent of respondents possessed their own milch animals for dairying. The majority of respondents, 63.50 per cent had medium farming experience in dairying. The majority of respondents, 56.00 per cent belonged to a medium level of milk production and 52.00 per cent belonged to a medium category of milk sales. The inferences may be drawn that, buffalo milk producers were generating more profit as compared to that of cow. In buffalo the cost of milk production per litre reported higher than in cow. Gross returns (Rs. 404.46) and net returns (Rs. 158.87) per buffalo per day was comparatively higher as compared to gross returns (Rs. 347.67) and net returns (Rs. 104.68) per cow per day, respectively. The higher milk yield from buffalo provided maximum net returns as compared to that of cow milk production. Similarly, the selling price of buffalo milk was found comparatively higher as compared to that of cow. Benefit cost ratio was found to be more (1:1.65) in the case of buffalo as compared to cow (1:1.45).