1Post-Graduate student, Directorate of Research, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-600 051
Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Chennai-600 007 (Tamil Nadu)
2Professor, Directorate of Research, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-600 051
3Professor, VUTRC, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University
The present study was conducted to assess the level of awareness and participation of goat farmers in various market-led institutions in Tiruchirappalli and Salem districts of Tamil Nadu. Asample size of 120 goat farmers (60 farmers from each district) who were actively involved in goat rearing selected randomly for the study. A well structured, pre-tested interview schedule was employed for the data collection. The study revealed that 61.67 per cent of respondents were aware about farmer interest groups (FIG's) and only 1.67 per cent of farmer producer organizations (FPO's). All the selected respondents were aware of farmers’ shandy and almost (98.33%) un-organized goat markets. The limited awareness with respect to FPO's was due to the fact that the farmers were not apprised of the significance of FPO's by rural banks and other Government agencies. Further, the data also revealed that majority (98.33%) of goat farmers had no participation in Farmer interest groups while about 50.83 per cent of respondents had partial participation in weekly bazaar for goats.
Awareness, Goat farmers, Market-led institutions, Participation, Tamil Nadu
