Study of Input and Output Markets of Livestock Products in Gujarat

Livestock rearing is the secondary source of income for millions of poor and rural families and has assumed the most important role in providing employment and income generating opportunities particularly for marginal, small and women farmers as well as land less labours. This paper examines livestock product markets (output) in Gujarat including market price(s) received, marketing channels, market structure and bottlenecks experienced by them. The primary data were collected from randomly selected 480 farmers from 20 village of Gujarat. This paper found that more than 70 per cent of total milk produced was sold in village cooperative dairy society. While out of remaining, was sold to local traders, processor and direct sale to others households and consumption at home. The selected respondents reported dissatisfaction about present marketing system and the major reason was lower price realisation than market price. The majority of selected households opined that rate for inputs charged were reasonable while some had felt it was high range. The major reasons cited for un-satisfaction where inputs were not subsidized, no government sales and no control over the price charged by the input seller.