Infrastructural Facilities and Support Services Utilization Patterns Among the Farmers of Uttar Pradesh Under Sugarcane Based Dairy Farming

In the State of Uttar Pradesh area under sugarcane based dairy farming offer an excellent opportunity for development of the dairy sector as sugarcane contributes a lot to it in the form of fodder, fuel, litter and housing material. The State is also the largest contributor to the national milk production, has the second highest cattle and highest buffalo population in the country, however, productivity is comparatively well below of the as in the progressive states. This has to be increased immediately especially in the areas where sugarcane based dairy farming is prevalent as it is practiced in 59 districts out of the 75. For proper development of any sector, related infrastructure facilities are must. The study was conducted in major sugarcane growing regions viz., Eastern, Central and Western U. P. Thus, 3 regions, 3 districts, 6 tehsils, 12 villages and 240 farmers constituted the sample size. The data collection was done with the help of semi-structured interview schedule through personal interview and observation methods. Under this paper an attempt has been made to analyse the existence, access and utilization patterns of infrastructural facilities and support services among the farmers of Uttar Pradesh under sugarcane based dairy farming for suggesting the strategies for dairy development to its fullest capability for nutritional and livelihood security of the rural masses. Most of the villages has road, 75.00 per cent of the farmers mentioned that dairy cooperative societies, banks, grazing lands and pastures and feed shops were not existed in their villages, majority of the farmers agreed that ponds/well and irrigation facilities like canals/tube wells, educational facilities and electricity supply were available. Access to the available facilities was found to be easy and most of the available infrastructure facilities and services could be utilize by majority of the farmers.