Socio-economic characteristics and constraints faced by broiler farmers in foothills of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand State

The present study was carried out on 120 randomly selected broiler farms in the foothills of the Kumaon region, Uttarakhand. The socio-economic profile of the farmers was evaluated based on flock size and education status into different categories. Farmers were interviewed personally using a well-prepared questionnaire to analyze the effect of socio-economic factors and to identify various problems faced in broiler farming and suggestions given by the farmers to overcome those problems. The majority of the farmers were young, male, non-vegetarian, untrained, and marginal. The Hindus preferred chicken meat and had no taboos in adopting broiler farming. More than half of the farmers practiced broiler farming as a subsidiary occupation and had large flock size. Flock size, landholding, and experience had no significant effect on communication sources for adopting broiler farming except education. High cost of feed, day-old chicks and more fluctuation in price followed by less organized marketing system were major problems at the production and marketing level, respectively. Most of the farmers suggested that feed, day-old chicks should be provided at subsidized rates, and a well-organized marketing system should be available in broiler farming.