Garret ranking of the constraints perceived by the emu farmers in the western region of Tamil Nadu

Emu (Dromaius novachollandiae) is considered one of the latest emerging species in the Indian poultry industry. At present, there are about 3000 farmers entrepreneurs involved in emu rearing in India. There were about eight hundred Emu farms in Tamil Nadu and about two hundred emu farms have been closed in recent past and about 400 emu farms are under operation in Western region of Tamil Nadu which include eleven districts. The present study was carried out purposively in the Western region of Tamil Nadu. A list of 320 commercial emu farmers rearing minimum of 20 birds in the selected five districts of western region of Tamil Nadu was prepared. The emu farmers were categorized into small (rearing 20–50 birds), medium (rearing 51–200 birds) and large (rearing >200 birds) commercial emu farmers. Further, out of 320 emu farmers there were 221 small, 68 medium and 31 large emu farmers. To select a total of 100 respondents, proportionate random sampling was followed which comprise respondents from each category i.e., 71 small, 19 medium and 10 large commercial emu farmer. Collected data was tabulated and analyzed by Garret ranking method. Getting low price for egg was a major constraint perceived by small farmers whereas lower productivity of the bird was the major constraint for medium and large farmers. Lack of support from developmental agencies, lack of scientific information about emu farming and lack of good breeding stock were major constraints reported by many emu farmers.