Consciousness of Dairy Farmers about Rabies an Oldest Zoonosis

The study was carried out to assess the consciousness of dairy farmers about rabies as an oldest zoonosis.

Using the simple random sampling method, 180 dairy farmers from 36 villages of 6 talukas of Panchmahals and Mahisagar districts of Gujarat state (India) were selected.

The majority of dairy farmers (90.56%) had high to very high level of consciousness about rabies. The majority of dairy farmers had medium to high level of knowledge (72.22%), high to very high level of sensitivity (91.11%) and favorable to most favorable attitude (95.55%) towards the control of rabies. Path analysis show the maximum positive direct effect had exerted by scientific orientation and mass media exposure and age exerted maximum negative direct effect. Economic motivation and extension participation exerted maximum indirect positive effects. Dairy farmers can enhance their consciousness about rabies through participation in different extension activities with using mass media, internet and other psychological variables. The findings of this study would serve as a guideline for researchers, training institutions, planners, extension agencies and concerned organizations in the formation of effective realistic training programmes to impart consciousness amongst the dairy farmers about rabies and other zoonoses.