Socio-personal and socio-economic profile of Kashmir Merino sheep farmers of Budgam

A survey was conducted in four community development blocks of the district Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir, to study the socio-economic profile of sheep farmers rearing Kashmir Merino sheep. A total of 76 sheep farmers were interviewed by face-to-face contact using a random sampling technique at their homes through a pre-structured questionnaire. The socio-economic status of sheep farmers revealed that 44.15% of farmers belonged to the middle age group (40-60 years), 55.85 % were living in the nuclear family system, and 76.62 % were married. The average family size of 7.30±2.02 was reported by respondents. Maximum farmers (45.45%) had adopted crop farming+livestock rearing as their main occupation, followed by labour+livestock only (37.66%). The maximum respondents were illiterate (51.95%), followed by matriculate and under-matric (31.17% and 16.88%). The housing system revealed that 100% of sheep farmers had pucca houses with an average±SE land holding of 10.61±2.03, ranging from 1 to 40 Kanals. Pucca animal sheds were predominant (72.73%) to protect the animals from extreme weather and predators. Although all casts were observed associated with sheep farming; however, the majority of the respondents were chopans (29.87%), followed by Bhat (12.99 %). Overall flock size of 32.69±3.83 with a range of 5-95 was observed in all four CD blocks of Budgam. The highest (46.20±8.14) flock size was observed in the Budgam block, and the lowest (21.90±5.75) in Khansahib. 90% of respondents were male, and only 10% were female. It is concluded from the study that sheep farming in Budgam is mainly practiced by poor, middle-aged, male, and illiterate people having marginal land holdings and low income, with agriculture as the main occupation and sheep as a secondary source of income.