Determinants of Scientific Knowledge Gain on Goat farming among Schedule Caste

Goat farming forms a vital enterprise among rural socio-economic weaker section. Training on goat farming imparts knowledge on improved practices and also aid in building new entrepreneurs. The study was conducted at department of Veterinary Extension Education in connection with the training organized under ICAR-SC sub-plan in the year 2021-2022 at Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, for the goat farmers and aspirant entrepreneur among scheduled caste people of Wayanad. The objective of the study was to find out the determinants of scientific knowledge gain on goat farming among schedule castes of Wayanad district. An ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study and altogether, 123 respondents who undergone training were selected for the study. The overall knowledge score were identified by using teacher-made knowledge test with specific questions on breeds, housing, breeding, common disease, health, feed and nutrition of goats. The findings were, more than one half of the respondents (53.66%) were in between the age of 36 yr to 50 yr, more than 60 per cent of the respondents were women, most of the respondents (42.28 %) were educated up to high school and majority (63.41%) of the respondents belonged to agricultural labourer category having up to 0.04 ha. of land. Large majority (94.31%) of the respondents were not attended any training so far and among them majority (76.42) of the respondents were inexperienced in goat farming. Among various socio-economic variables, age, education, flock size, experience, mass media exposure and cosmopolites were found to be significantly correlated with knowledge gain. These identified determinants must be given due consideration while conducting trainings for goat farmers in future.