Zoonoses Risk – Perception of Dairy Farmers of Haryana
Abstract
The present study was conducted on 180 dairy farmers selected from eight villages of two
districts viz. Hisar and Jind of Haryana to assess their knowledge about prevention of zoonotic
diseases. The attitude of veterinary professionals towards Animal Hygiene was also measured. The data
were collected by holding personal interview with the dairy farmers and veterinary professionals during
2017-18. Knowledge of the respondents was assessed based on experts opinion prepared in the form of
recommendation and contradicted practices. For assessing the communication behavior of the farmers‟
a scale was used. This was assessed in terms of from where the information was sought, how much
information was sought and how frequently information was sought. For documenting the undesirable
practices of respondent‟s observation method was used. A scale was constructed for measuring the
attitude of veterinarians. Summated ratings method was followed for construction of scale. The scale
contained 22 items in all. The reliability of scale was 0.86.The knowledge of the respondents varied
considerably. The minimum score obtained was the 28 with the highest being 68. It was argued that the
farmers‟ knowledge seeking behavior plays an important role. There were significant differences
between commercial and household farmers. More of commercial farmers scored high when compared
to household dairy farmers. The sources utilized by the respondents most of times were other and
progressive farmers followed by Veterinary hospital, Neighbours / Friends, Training, etc. Respondents
were seeking most of the information on Selection criteria for disease free animal followed by Storage
of feed, Supplemental feed preparation and Health care. More than half the numbers of observed dairy
sheds were located in areas with a foul smell. A significantly large majority of farmers were allowing
animals in the shed after/before milking. A majority of veterinary professionals were having moderate
to strongly favourable attitude towards animal hygiene. Need to focus on continuing veterinary
education is emphasized.
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