Increasing Income and Livelihood of Resource-Poor Farmers by Providing Osmanabadi Goats in Maharashtra

To compare the socio-economic conditions of resource-poor farmers before and after the introduction of goat farming, a baseline survey was conducted in Nashik, Nandurbar, Pune, Ahmednagar and Hingoli districts of Maharashtra. Forty-five scheduled tribe (ST) farmers of Nashik and Nandurbar districts and 51 scheduled caste (SC) farmers of Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Hingoli districts were randomly selected. Training on goat farming was imparted to the selected farmers. Thereafter, they were provided one unit of adult Osmanabadi goat (1 male + 4 female), 200 kg of goat feed, 2.0 kg of mineral mixture, feeder, waterer and tarpaulin sheet. The survey of farmers showed that the main occupation of the farmers was agriculture (48.42 ST vs. 42.73% SC) followed by daily wage in both the ST and SC-dominated talukas (26.32 vs. 20.00%). A total of 422 kids were born during four years (2020 to 2024) in herds of 54 farmers. Average daily gain of kids was 108.07 g/day in the farmers' herds. The overall daily milk yield of a doe was 451.08 ml during the study period of four years. The average annual mortality rate was 8.24% in kids and goats in the farmers' herds. A total of 54 farmers sold their goats and earned an average of Rs. 12061 per annum. Annual income of farmers increased over baseline income by 41.65%. It was inferred that the introduction of goat farming among resource-poor farmers sizably improved their income and benefitted them economically.