1School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India.
2Agricultural Marketing, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab, India.
3College of Agriculture, Gwalior, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior-474 003, Madhya Pradesh, India.
4Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur-208 002, Uttar Pradesh, India.
5Invertis University, Bareilly-243 001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
6School of Agriculture, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun-248 007, Uttarakhand, India.
7Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, GLA University, Mathura-281 406, Uttar PradeshIndia.
*Corresponding Author: Bhartendu Yadav, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India. Email: yadvbhartendu@gmail.com
Keeping in view the majority population under marginal and small category, dairy enterprise is considered as one of the major agri-allied sectors. It has capability to improve economics of rural households and hence hunger, poverty and sustainability. Using cutting-edge statistical techniques, this study assesses the productivity, resource allocation and economic efficiency of dairy farms in four significant bovine-rearing states in India.
Four hundred farms (smallholder, family-operated and semi-commercial) in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh were selected using stratified simple random sampling. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) were used to analyze the data.
Findings indicate notable typological and geographical variations in profitability, input use and efficiency. Due to input misallocation and a lesser adoption of technology, smallholder farms fell behind semi-commercial farms in terms of technical and economic efficiency. Input access, customized extension services and best-practice scaling are highlighted in policy proposals. Additionally, the results provide solid benchmarks and practical advice for policy development and farm improvement.
Cluster analysis, Dairy, Data envelopment analysis, Economic efficiency, Sustainability
