Marketing of Yak Products and Substitution of Yak Products with other available Products: A Field Study on Tawang District of Arunachal Pradesh

Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh is well known for variety of Yak products. Basically, it includes both food and non-food based items. It is important to note that food items are valued more. However, non-food items made from yak is on constant decrease in the study area. Substitution is the main factor responsible for such decrease in non-food products made from yak. But demand of food items like chur (local cheese) is still high due to non-availability of its close substitutes. Also, the herders use traditional equipment instead of modern machinery in producing the products. Again, Brokpas (Yak herders) have opted for traditional technique over modern technique due to taste and quality preference. During the study it is found that majority of consumers of yak products are forced or compelled to substitute due to unavailability of yak products in the Tawang region. Declining numbers of yak herd and herdsman to take up yak rearing have been found to be the reasons for shortages in supply of yak products.

With this background, the present study made an attempt to study production and marketing of yak product in the Tawang District of Arunachal Pradesh. It has also tried to analyze substitution of yak products with other available product in the study area. Moreover, the study endeavored to examine intensity and reasons for substitution of yak products in the study area.