Social aspects of goat marketing in Etah District of Uttar Pradesh

The present study is an attempt to examine the sale market, purchase agencies, reason and purpose of selling goats in two selected blocks viz. Jaleshwar and Ganjdundwara in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. 198 goat farmers were selected in two blocks. The goat farmers were categorized into small (1–5 goats), medium (6–10 goats) and large (above 10 goats) categories on the basis of flock size. The study indicated that 30.81% goat farmers preferred to sell goats right in the village, 27.77% in village as well as weekly market, 39.90% in weekly market and 2.02% in district market. Majority of the goat farmers in the village sold their goat to petty traders. However, a small percentage of farmers sold their goats directly to rural and semi-urban butchers and a few to fellow farmers for rearing. On an average, 33.83% of the goat farmers were selling adult female to reduce flock size for better management while majority of the farmers (36.87%) preferred to sell off their kids at early age as it was profitable. The income from goat enterprise was used as input in other enterprises like dairy and crop production and it played very important role in improving the economic condition of the rural poor.