Goat Rearing in ‘Kandi’ Region of Jammu and Kashmir- An Economic Enterprise

The present study conducted in subtropical rain fed(locally called as Kandi belt) area of Jammu region is an endaveour to know the economics of Goat rearing among the peoples of this largely hilly dominated area. Goat rearing is still a favorable option for the peoples because of low investments, less feed requirements and relative ease of rearing. The findings of the study reveal that the benefit cost ratio in this enterprise is 1:1.44. A large amount of the cost of rearing is accounted for the labour charges in grazing. Among the three ways by which the returns from goat comes, the largest share is from sale of goat for mutton (56%) followed by sale of milk (41%) and the least by sale of manure (3%). The important bottlenecks faced by goat rearers are non availability of exotic breeds (64%), low yield of milk (74.16%) and inadequate grazing facilities by (60%) of the respondents.