1(Ad-Hoc), Gramyanchal Post Graduate College, Haidergarh (Barabanki), U.P.
2(Agril. Extn), Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow- 226 002.
3(Agril. Extn.), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012.
4NDRI, Karnal, Haryana.
To assess the dairy farmers' satisfaction with Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCSs), a research study was conducted in PCDF, Uttar Pradesh. With the help of semi-structured interview schedule, data were collected from 80 member farmers of 8 selected DCSs in PCDF. The findings obtained under the present study gave clear indication of the fact that majority of member farmers had modest participation in different activities of the dairy cooperative societies. The average herd size among the respondents of the study area was 7 dairy animals per household, which is quite encouraging, also holds the impression that dairying is an important component of households' income generating activities. The good quantity of milk produced and sold by member farmers to the societies indicated the commercial viability of dairy farming in the area. About one third of the respondents were happy with the functioning of societies, however, for more than half of the member farmers the performance of the societies was not disappointing. Dissatisfaction of small farmers reported in the study also depict the prevalence of mismanagement in dairy cooperative societies to some extent. Organisational participation, market potential and economic motivation were found to have strong influence on the satisfaction level of farmers in positive direction. However, constraints negatively contributed towards farmers' satisfaction with the functioning of DCSs.
