Information Need Assessment of Buffalo Farmers in Jammu District
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Date
2021-11-12
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Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Jammu (J&K)
Abstract
Buffalo rearing is an important economic activity in Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir. The estimated buffalo population of Jammu and Kashmir is 7.89 lakh (19th Livestock Census) which approximately counts 8.03 per cent of UT’s livestock population. It is reported that not more than 5% of the farm households in India are able to access information about animal husbandry leading to a huge information gap amongst the buffalo rearing farmers, the reason primarily being, lack of efficient livestock extension system in place. The information need varies from person to person, so relevant and meaningful information must be delivered to the individual farmers in a way preferred by them. In view of this, a study was conducted in Jammu and Kashmir entitled “Information Need Assessment of Buffalo Farmers in Jammu District” in order to assess the information needs of buffalo farmers. The data was collected from 120 buffalo rearing farmers of Jammu district using a pre tested and well structured interview schedule containing dependent and independent variables. Majority of buffalo farmers were middle aged, educated up to high school and above, belonged to nuclear family with medium family size (5-8 members) and had marginal land holding with medium herd size of 5-8 animals. Agriculture and animal husbandry were the main and subsidiary occupation of majority of buffalo farmers respectively. The average annual income earned from animal husbandry practices was Rs 50,000-Rs 3,30,000 and total annual income was Rs 1,85,505- Rs 5,50,255. Considering the social participation, most of the buffalo farmers were either member of one organization or more than one organization. They had medium level of mass media exposure, extension contact and cosmopoliteness-localitness. Majority of the buffalo farmers (80.00%) had medium level of information need and 10.83 per cent respondents had high information need. However, 8.33 per cent buffalo farmers had low information need. With respect to the overall information needs of buffalo farmers, farm credit and marketing information (36.75 WMS) was most preferred by them. The study further revealed that the most needed information was found out to be about subsidies (92.50%), common zoonotic diseases (90.80%), venereal diseases (84.20%), dung disposal and manure utilisation (32.50%) and feeding of the new born (31.70%). Majority of the buffalo farmers (96.70%) ‘always’ considered friends and relatives as their information source, whereas 86.70 per cent respondents ‘occasionally’ considered VAS as their information source. However, 98.30 per cent buffalo farmers rarely contacted co-operative personnel. Most of the buffalo farmers (78.30%) ‘always’ used mobile phone, whereas 83.30 per cent ‘occasionally’ utilized veterinary hospital and none of them utilized folk media, documentary and demonstrations as their information channels. Farm credit and marketing constraints (81.37 MPS) were considered as the most serious, however, feeding and nutrition constraints (55.49 MPS) were perceived the least serious. Overall most serious constraint perceived by the buffalo farmers was ‘absence of FPOs in village’ (MPS 99.722) whereas, ‘language barrier’ (MPS 36.111) was perceived as the overall least serious constraint by the buffalo farmers.