An analysis of constraints of value addition of milk at the farm level in Punjab state

Punjab is one of the highest milk producing states of India where the total milk production of 12.6 million tonnes and 1181 grams per day of per capita availability of milk. The present study was aimed to identify and prioritize the constraints faced by dairy farmers during the production of value-added milk and milk products and their marketing activities at the farm level in Punjab state. The constraints were studied through pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire by selecting 50 dairy farmers by random sampling method and categorized into small, medium and large on the basis of the quantity of milk production produced per day by cumulative cube root frequency method. The data were analyzed by simple tabular analysis and Garrett's ranking technique. The results showed that less awareness about the importance of value addition (71.32%) and lack of proper market (58.32%) were important constraints. Hence there is a need for proper training regarding the importance and promotion of value addition of milk that would help in strengthening the market linkages between dairy farmers and dairy industry in production and marketing activities at the farm level in Punjab state.