Significance of Badri cattle in rural household of Uttarakhand hills

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate the significance of Badri Cattle in rural household of Uttarakhand state of India. A total of 120 respondents, 60 each from Pauri Garhwal and Almora district were randomly selected for the study and data were collected using semi-structured interview schedule. The results revealed that majority of respondents (71.7%) had low level of income generation and consume less quantity of milk obtained from Badri cattle. The average annual income earned through Badri cattle was ` 13054/household, which contributed 19.9% to gross annual income. Average milk consumed and sold was 1.7 and 1.2 litres/day/household, respectively with average fat, protein and calcium contribution of 70 g, 55 g and 2000 mg, respectively. The results revealed that Badri cattle generated 91.2–136.9 mandays for 59.2% of household followed by 136.9–182.5 man days for 37.5% of household and 182.5–228.1 mandays for 3.3% of respondents annually with an average of 136.9 mandays/ annum. Majority of respondents (83.3%) had low level of Farm Yard Manure (FYM) production followed by medium (11.7%) and high (5%) levels of FYM production. The study showed that the average FYM production was 4.8 tonnes per annum with NPK production of 38.3, 19.1 and 76.6 kg/annum, respectively. The results also revealed that 20.8% of the respondents perceived Badri cattle as a security during uncertainties, 58.3% of respondents consider keeping Badri cattle a status symbol and cent percent of the respondents consider that Badri cattle has religious importance. Most preferred reason for rearing of Badri cattle by majority of respondents (94.2%) was fulfillment of need for milk and milk products followed by manure utilization (68.3%) and draught power (10%). The overall contribution of Badri cattle in the livelihood generation was very low and therefore, needs to be enhanced by improving the production performance of cattle and agriculture practices, marketing and value addition facilities.