Carabeef consumption pattern in Srinagar City of Jammu & Kashmir

Meat consumption has a tremendous regional impact that ranges from local to global. Due to high affordability, carabeef is the second most consumed animal protein in India after chicken. Srinagar has a human population of diverse socio-economic background. As such it provided the ideal situation for the study with no previous attempt made by anyone in this regard. The present study was carried out in all thirty-five (35) administrative wards of Srinagar city. Seven households were randomly selected from each ward making a total of two hundred and forty-five (245) respondent families in all. Variables based on different aspects of consumption behaviour towards Carabeef were incorporated into the questionnaire developed for the study. The major findings of the study revealed that majority of the households were nuclear families with most of them having business as their main occupation and average annual income of Rs.409665/-. Carabeef was not preferred much in Srinagar city as just 39.59 per cent consumed it with an average monthly consumption of 0.95 kg per consuming household. Family tradition behind its non-uptake turned out to be major reason for such selective preference. However, among those respondents who preferred the said meat claimed its higher affordability as main reason behind its consumption and all invariably purchased buffalo meat from local retail shops with an average monthly expenditure of Rs 284/-. Among the various socio-economic variables family income and family type (nuclear families) was found to be negatively and highly influenced with preference for Carabeef consumption. Thus, consumer’s preference with regard to Buffalo meat consumption is essential to be incorporated while planning for the sector especially in context to large animal- based entrepreneurship.