Perceived constraints and benefits of dairy farming practices in northern Bihar: A garrett ranking analysis

The study was undertaken in Northern Bihar to evaluate the challenges and benefits of dairy farming as perceived by the dairy farmers. A total number of 180 dairy farmers were randomly selected. Garret’s ranking technique was adopted to prioritize the constraints faced by the dairy farmers in the study area. The study revealed that the major constraints faced by the dairy farmers were the distance of veterinary hospital from selected village, less accessibility of veterinarians during night time, less availability of in-time Artificial Insemination facility at village, lack of credit/finance, high cost of feed, lack of skill on the part of local veterinary service provider, lack of knowledge about scientific dairy farming practices, inadequate number of veterinary doctors and lack of marketing infrastructure of milk and milk products. The rapid increase in the demand of milk and milk products (100%), ensured income through dairy farming (91.67%) and employment opportunities for farm families (87.78%), economic growth of the farmer as well as nation (81.11%), easier marketing of milk as compared to industrial products (66.67%) and use of dung to produce fuel (90.56%) were the major benefits of the dairy farming as perceived by the farmers.