The changes that veterinary services have undergone in India over the last decades are expected to continue and result in the further involvement of paravets and Animal Health workers (AHWs) for Minor Veterinary Services delivery. Gopalamitras (Animal Health Workers (AHWs) of Andhra Pradesh) performance in Minor Veterinary Services delivery remains a major concern from stakeholders ’perspective. In the light of the above context, this paper focuses on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of Gopalamitras. The major strengths are highly accessible for the farmers and proactive in AI service delivery. The major weaknesses are the services are target oriented and poor attention for preventive service delivery. The major opportunities are creating strong link with AHD and untapping the potential for extension and preventive services. The major threats are lack of assessment criteria evaluation procedures for their services in terms of quality and involvement in unauthorized service delivery. These findings can be reviewed by the policy makers to strengthen and explore the capacity of AHWs as a third tier of Animal Husbandry Department in Minor Veterinary service delivery.

Factors Influencing Milk Producers’ Preference for Dairy Husbandry Services: a case of Salem District of Tamilnadu

In pursuit of increasing milk production among other factors, adequate and timely supply of quality inputs, disease surveillance and preventive service delivery is inevitable. Veterinary services for milk producers in general and Supply of Inputs and Preventive services in particular have traditionally been provided by the public sector at institution, but milk marketing agencies viz dairy development department and private agency have extended their provision at village level but limited their availability of services at centre only. This paper considers the extent of Input supply and preventive service delivery and milk producers’ perception about quality, timeliness and service charge paid to gain an insight into the debatable issue of effective and efficient service delivery as claimed by the service providers. These results underline the need for a re-examination of the milk procurement agencies strategy to ensure supply of inputs and preventive services to the rural milk producers as and when they need. It is time to ensure in-time availability of inputs and preventive services, through either 'user pays' fees or levies. In the long term, as the dairy sector develops and service delivery becomes inevitable, dairy development department will need to dedicate itself towards playing valuable role in providing quality and timely inputs, animal disease surveillance and control.

Backyard poultry plays an important role in the livelihood of rural families in developing countries as a source of ready cash income alongwith satisfying social needs. This paper is based on a study conducted in eight villages from Nuzvid division of Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh to assess the status of backyard poultry rearing. The survey indicated the existence of desi birds in the study area with an average flock size of 4-9 birds per household with little or negligible supplementary feeding. High mortality, poor productivity was reported by majority of the respondents which might be due to lack of awareness about improved backyard varieties and poultry related government schemes. Appropriate institutional support in terms of provision of improved backyard varieties, disease control strategies, training and awareness programmes can promote this remunerative enterprise in the region keeping in view of raising demand for backyard egg and chicken.

This study was undertaken in Salem district of Tamil Nadu to assess the extent of dairy husbandry services delivered by milk procurement agencies viz., co-operative and a private agency and willingness of respondents to pay for the services. A total of 150 milk producers (75 of co-operative and 75 of private) were randomly selected out of five selected villages to represent five randomly selected blocks of Salem district. Selected milk marketing agencies were procuring milk of the milk producers and also delivering dairy husbandry services such as breeding, therapeutic, supply of inputs, preventive, extension and marketing services to the their member producers as paid or subsidized service. The findings of the study are majority of the respondents of DCS (89.33 %) and private agency (100 %) expressed their willingness to pay for AI, obstetrical, gynecological and therapeutic services delivered at their doorsteps. However, none of the respondents was willing to pay for the preventive and extension services. Both agencies did not concentrate on delivery of these services and depended upon the Department of Animal Husbandry (DAH) for their delivery. Both the milk marketing agencies supply cattle feed, fodder seeds and mineral mixture on payment basis only to their respective members. The willingness of the respondents to pay for breeding and therapeutic services opened the scope for privatization of these services. The results also showed that most of the respondents of private agency were not facing any serious constraints in availing dairy husbandry services. However, the unique role of DAH in providing preventive and extension services to all livestock owners needed more emphasis.

A study was purposively conducted following exploratory research design in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh to study the profile of livestock farmers and their level of satisfaction on livestock services availed from Gopalamitras. A total of 150 livestock farmers were interviewed for the study with the help of pre-tested semistructured interview schedule. A high percentage of livestock farmers were satisfied with the services such as AI, PD, treatment, preventive vaccination and deworming services provided by the Gopalamitras. The farmers were also satisfied with the number of visits made by Gopalamitras, venue of the service, availability and accessibility to the services, timely service, quality of the service, behaviour of the Gopalamitra and the fee charged by the Gopalamitras. The general impression of the study is that Gopalamitras were delivering unauthorized services to the livestock farmer for sustaining their livelihood. This study has consistently suggested that suitable mechanism need to be developed for streamlining animal health service delivery of Gopalamitras.

A study was conducted to identify the managemental practices followed by goat keepers of Attur Block; Salem district by collecting the data from sample goat keepers of four villages randomly selected villages. The data were analysed statistically and discussed. The study revealed that majority of the goat keepers are not following the scientific practices of cutting and disinfecting navel cord of kids. Majority of the goat keepers surveyed are not providing concentrates to their goats and are using their farm byproducts as the feed. From the study it was clear that there is the knowledge gap among the goat keepers about scientific managemental practices of goats. Majority of the farmers are not following the practice of deworming and vaccination. Majority of the farmers are not availing any health care and preventive services for their goats No goat keepers approached SDAH for availing extension services for better rearing of goats. So, there is an urgent need to create awareness about the scientific management of goats so that the goat keepers can enhance their productivity and achieve maximum return from this enterprise to improve their socio-economic status. State animal husbandry department may need to play a pro-active role making the extension services available to them.

A pilot study was conducted in Puducherry region to analyse the temporal changes in dairy cattle production in a span of five years. Under NPCBB (National Project Cattle and Buffalo Breeding), a bench mark survey was conducted in 2005 among dairy farmers in 120 villages of Puducherry region. A repeat survey was conducted among 68 farmers selected randomly from 6 of the above villages in 2010. The study revealed decrease in herd size (4 to 3) and household milk production (9.12 to 8.70 lts/ day) which were attributed to high feed cost and low milk procurement price. About 42% of the respondents shifted their occupation from dairying to either agricultural labour or crop farming, thereby indicating the decreasing interest of the respondents in dairy farming. Gradual decrease in the milk procurement (60,000 to 35,000 lts / day) by the Pondicherry milk producers union (PONLAIT) over the years lend credence to findings of the study. These negative trends in dairy farming scenario in Puducherry calls for appropriate policy formulation and implementation.