Comparative Study of Economic Diversification of Dairy Farmers with Special Reference to Pune, Maharashtra

Abstract

India being majorly an agrarian economy primarily has farmers with very small landholdings. Hence, along with agriculture, dairy farming plays an important role in providing livelihood and employment. Especially in the rural areas, the farmers have been completely dependent on rain for their agricultural activities; dairy farming serves as a real savior. As per the statistics, India ranks first in the world as the largest milk-producing country contributing 19% (150 million tons per year) of the total milk production in the world (FASAR AND YESBANK, 2016). Maharashtra is the 7th largest milk-producing state in India and produces about 11.6 million tons per year (Shah, 2014). The present study work was carried out in 4 Talukas viz., Purandhar, Bhor, Baramati, and Shirur of Pune district of Maharashtra. The cluster of three villages was selected from each taluka. Further, 120 farmers were randomly selected following the simple stratified random sampling considering the herd’s size as strata. The farmers were further divided into three classes based on herd size of 1-2 herds as a small-sized farmer, 3-5 as a medium-sized farmer, and more than 5 herds as a large farmer. From these 120 dairy farmers, 50 small farmers were selected, followed by 35 farmers, each under medium and large farmers. The main purpose of this research was to find out the difference in the pattern of cost, profit, and gap behind that small and large size dairy farmer. The questionnaire was prepared, and quantitative data were collected from the random farmers to analyze their capital investment, costs, and profitability in the year 2019-20. Qualitative data were also collected to support the quantitative data of dairy farmers. Of the total selected farmers, 65% of farmers had pure cows, 16.7% of farmers had pure buffalo, and 18.3% had mixed cows and buffaloes. The benefit-cost ratio was higher for the large-sized farmers, which was 1.70, while 1.62 and 1.50 for small and medium-size farmers. The average cost incurred per liter of milk production was Rs. 17.76, Rs. 20.37, and Rs. 19.55 for small, medium, and large size farmers, respectively. The total cost incurred for dairy farming majorly contributes to the feed and fodder cost, which was about 74% of the total cost. The study results showed that the large-sized farmers were getting 18.8% and 27.4% more profit per liter than small and medium-size farmers, respectively.