The Indian Journal of Small Ruminants

A survey was conducted in 45 villages of Surat, Navsari and Bharuch districts of South Gujarat region. A total of 1243 goat keepers having 8948 goats were contacted to study their socio-economic status. The sex ratio in goats up to one year of age is 1: 1.27 whereas in adult goats it was found to be 1:8.48 for male: female in the survey area. The caste based analysis of goat keepers revealed that goat keeping was most widely practiced profession in the scheduled tribe (45.45%) community followed by general category people (31.38%) mostly belonging to the muslim community. The primary profession of the majority (68.38%) of goat keepers was farm labour coupled with animal husbandry. The study indicated that 64.92% of the goat keepers had average flock size of 1–5 animals. The average annual income was recorded less than Rs. 10000/- per family in 74.26% goat keepers while 4.91% goat keepers had more than Rs. 30000/- annual income. The average size of a goat keeper's family was 4.96 members. The literacy percentage was highest in children (73.09%) followed by men (64.55%) and women (54.57%), respectively. Among the literate women, 75.78% received primary level education. However, literacy percentage at secondary school level was higher in men (39.25%) followed by children (25.90%) and women (22.61%), respectively. The average annual income from sale of one male ranged between Rs. 6000–8000/- depending upon the body weight and health condition. It was concluded that goat husbandry was most popular in the scheduled tribe community and supported them substantially to cater their needs.