Impact of interventions for sustainable small ruminants production under drought in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu

A bench mark survey was conducted in October 2011 with a pre-tested interview schedule in Vadavathur Panchayat (Namakkal, Tamil Nadu) to understand the demographic, socioeconomic status of farmers and their farming system. Based on the survey results, technical interventions in housing, feeding and disease control were implemented. The impact study conducted in 2020 indicated that the average flock sizes of 43 sheep and 26 goats kept by the beneficiary farmers (BF) as against 29 sheep and 12 goats by non-beneficiary farmers (NBF) in the village. The average body weigh at birth, 3 and 6 months of age were significantly (p<0.01) higher in lambs (2.28±0.07 and 1.90±0.03, 11.71±0.04 kg) and kids (10.68±0.15 and 16.31±0.53 and 15.50±0.26 kg) of BF than NBF (1.88±0.06 and 1.76±0.03, 10.45±0.36 and 9.02±0.11 and 14.56±0.45 and 12.58±0.31 kg, respectively). The overall morbidity in sheep and goats ranged between 14 and 15% in BF and between 28 and 33% in NB farmer's flocks. The overall mortality remained significantly (p<0.05) low (1.96 to 4.00%) in BF compared to NBF (15%). The farmers marketed their animals at the average body weight of 15.5 kg (goats) and 16.3 kg (sheep) either through direct sale or middleman, markets available in the own village and sometimes to the institutions which involved state government schemes related to supply of animals. The farmers sold their animals @ Rs. 450, Rs. 350 and Rs. 400/kg live weight by direct sale, through middlemen and in livestock markets, respectively. The average annual return per flock (25 to 30 goats) was Rs. 81000 to 90000 and per goat was Rs. 3200/-, whereas the average annual return per flock (35 to 40 sheep) was Rs. 89540 to 96100 and per sheep was Rs.2585/-. The interventions implemented in sheep and goat production system in the village resulted in significant improvement in production performance of the animals that yielded more profit to the farmers and also increased the animal population from 405 in 2011 to 3285 in 2020 in nine years.