Development of model for transfer of dairy technology in punjab

The study focuses on the existing system of transfer of dairy technology, identifying the information needs of the small farmers, problems faced by them in dairy farming and studying extension approaches used by the extension functionaries so that the existing ineffective and unresponsive system could be modified to empower the small farmers for their livelihood. The study was undertaken by selecting 600 small and marginal farmers and 42 extension personnel working in the sampled area in Punjab. Based on the empirical data obtained during the study, role of various systems related to dairy development was studied and it was also tried to find out what specific functions and how these functions should be carried out to find the solutions of the problems faced by the small and marginal dairy farmers. It was found that Extension system provides literature on dairy, attend telephone calls, participate in farmer's meetings and arrange training camps as per information needs of fanners in the area of feeding such as treatment of straw with urea (83.83%) and feeding of mineral mixture (77.50%), breeding such as, high yielding breeds and artificial insemination (83.17%), health management such as, knowledge and diagnosis of common diseases (79.50%) and care of animals such as, care of pregnant animals (66.33%) and care at the time of calving (64.83%). The suggestions from the dairy extension personnel were also obtained to bring improvements in the transfer of dairy husbandry technology. Nearly 80 per cent of the extension personnel emphasized on the frequent trainings on common diseases of the dairy animals (76.19%) to bring improvement in the transfer of dairy technology. Almost seventy four (73.81%) per cent of extension personnel opined that this profession needs to be more remunerative to improve the system. More than half of the extension personnel (54.76%) favored the cooperative marketing and 42.86 per cent favored value addition by processing of milk.