CHANDEL, B SPUSHPA2023-11-082023-11-082018https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810200674Recognizing the paramount importance of livestock support services in increasing production and productivity of animals, the study conducted impact assessment of livestock services and economic analysis of their delivery mechanism in Gujarat. The primary data collected for study pertains to the year 2013-14 for 200 selected households of Anand, Junagadh, Sabarkantha and Surat districts. It was supplemented with secondary data on veterinary institutions, total output of livestock products and inputs used especially feed, labour and interest of population stock. The contingent valuation (CV) was used to estimate WTP and Tornqvist-Theil Index was used to estimate total factor productivity (TFP) which was further decomposed to find out the effect of factors other than inputs. Simple tabular analysis was done to know the status, growth and effectiveness of livestock services. The study found that number of livestock population served by one veterinary institution was 20 thousand which was too large from all standards. The coverage of livestock insurance was unexpectedly low as only 0.55 per cent of the livestock population was insured. An average farmer was making total expenditure of Rs 1813 per standard animal unit (SAU) per annum on livestock services in which animal health services were accounting for 67 per cent of the total expenditure and remaining was on AI services. The expenditure incurred by cooperative institutions on providing the services of case treatment, vaccination, emergency visits and AI were Rs 71, Rs 66, Rs 267 and Rs 49 per service on an average, respectively. For animal health services, the overall WTP was about Rs 74 per service at the centre and Rs 206 per service at doorstep, which was 1.23 times and 1.02 times higher than the existing charges per service, respectively. The TFP of livestock sector in Gujarat was found to be every increasing except during mid eighties to mid nineties when the state faced severe drought. The highest growth rate in TFP was recorded 5.32 per cent per annum during the last decade from 2005-06 to 2014-15. This growth rate in TFP has been realized due the high growth of output index and deceleration in input index which revealed an improvement in input efficiency ratio. The research and development (R&D) investment which was proxy for technology, significantly contributed for increase in TFP. A one per cent increase in R&D investment increased the TFP by 0.1237 per cent. Another major variable explaining the positive growth in TFP was the rural literacy which was proxy for skill of farmers. The study concluded that in spite of growth in institutions of livestock services, it has not commensurate with the increase in livestock population. The number of animals served by one institute or veterinary doctor was substantially higher by all standards and could be one of the reasons for poor livestock services. The role of government institution in providing services was still dominating even after multi-agency approach recommended by policy planners and scientists. The share of cooperatives and private agencies was lower especially in treatment of animals and vaccination which are crucial services for overall improvement in production and productivity of animal. The cooperatives were doing better in improving the germplasm of the livestock through AI services and were also found to be cost effective. The private agencies can play a complementary role in providing livestock services if made more reliable and cost & quality effectiveEnglishThesis