Constraints Faced by the Tribal Goat Farmers of Kandhamal District in Odisha, India

Goat rearing is one of the important supplementary activities in tribal areas of our country. It provides emergency income security to the vulnerable tribal farmers besides social status in the community. However, this occupation is associated with many problems at present and the tribal goat farmers are mostly affected. The present study was undertaken to find out the problems encountered by the tribal farmers in goat rearing which affect their livelihood. Kandhamal district of Odisha was purposively selected for the study as this district is highly concentrated with local goats. From randomly selected four blocks of the district, four villages were also selected randomly from each block. Thereafter, seven goat farmers from each village were selected randomly which constitute the sample size of 112 goat farmers for the study. The data for the study was collected personally by the researcher with the help of pre-tested interview schedule. The study employed ex-post facto research design to capture field data. The constraints were ranked by using Garrett's ranking technique. The study revealed that insufficient subsidy and support from government, unavailability of good quality kids to start a farm, tribal farmers lack of exposure to successful goat farms in the nearby area, goat farming as a low caste activity and facing difficulty to sell the goats at door step as major constraints perceived by the tribal goat farmers in rearing goats for their livelihood. The State Animal Husbandry Department may take up the awareness programme to address these issues related to the financial, operational, extension and marketing constraints faced by the tribal goat farmers to support their livelihood as they are most vulnerable section of the society.