IMPACT EVALUATION OF WOMEN DAIRY SELF HELP GROUPS OF MAHILA GRAMEEN HASTKALA WELFARE SOCIETY OF KATHUA DISTRICT
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Date
2019-12-24
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Division of Agricultural Extension Education Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu Main Campus, Chatha, Jammu
Abstract
Agriculture and animal husbandry are two main pillars of Indian agriculture on which entire structure of village life rests. They are twin occupation which from time immemorial has played a significant role in improving the rural economy. Dairying in India is a female dominated enterprise. It is established that women participated in dairy and animal husbandry activities in addition to their daily household chores, as they spent more time than men in dairy production activities. “A self help group (SHG) is a small economically homogenous affinity group of rural poor generally not exceeding 20 members voluntarily coming together. To find out the impact of dairy SHGs on the livelihood of women dairy entrepreneurs, a study entitled “Impact Evaluation of Women Dairy Self Help Groups of Mahila Grameen Hastkala Welfare Society of Kathua District” was undertaken.Based on the feasibility, quasi-experimental static group comparison research design was employed for the study. Out of the 600 established SHGs of the NGO, 50 dairy SHGs were selected purposively and further out of 50 selected dairy SHGs, 8 SHGs were selected randomly. All the members of these 8 SHGs were taken as respondent which raised the sample size from SHGs to 92. Similarly equal number of non-SHG farm women practicing dairy farmingwas also taken from adjoining villages as a control group, thus making a total sample size of 184 respondents. Results show that majority of the respondents belong to middle age group and educated up to secondaryclass. Majority of the women from nuclear families joined SHG. There was a significant difference of average experience (in years) in dairy farming(t=4.557, p=0.000)and possession of average number of milch animals(t=3.045 andp=0.003)between SHG and Non-SHG members.Members of sampled SHGs have developed more extension contacts with Veterinary livestock inspector, veterinary doctor, agricultural assistant, KVK personnel and officials of milk federation. Results regarding trainings showed that on an average, every SHG women had attended 2 trainings regarding different dairy interventionsincluding disease management, care and management and overall management of the cattle.The study also revealed that there was no significant difference between SHGs and non SHGs members regarding knowledge about different dairy interventions.There was a significant difference between SHGs and non SHGs members regardingsale of milk, value addition and average annual dairy income (sale of milk+value addition) with a difference of Rs.10,643, Rs. 1,578 and Rs. 12,221, respectively.Major source of loan for SHG members was their respective groupswhile non-SHGmembers were dependent upon neighbors (71%), relatives (85%), bank (86%) and money lenders (59%)for fulfilling their need of loan.The study also revealed that there was a significant difference in the uptake of improved dairy management practices.Results from enter method of binary regression logistic model showed that age, caste, family size, experience of the women in dairy farming and total household annual income significantly affected the farmers decision to become member of dairy SHGwith R2 value of 0.904.Major constraints faced by dairy SHG women was high cost of concentrate (74.47%), followed by distant location of Artificial insemination centers (62.50%) and proneness of animal to disease (55.43%)