Economics of Milk Production and Yield Differentials among the Marginal Women Farmers of Jharkhand State in India

Aim: To determine the economics of milk production and yield gaps of crossbred cow, buffalo and indigenous cow in Jharkhand State of India.

Study Design: The study was designed to cater the scope of production economics in reality by suggesting ways to bridge the yield gaps.

Place and Duration of Study: The present study was conducted using 130 beneficiary farmers in Hazaribagh and Khunti districts of Jharkhand during the 2016-17 agricultural year.

Methodology: As per the technique of the yield gap analysis, developed by Gomez (1977), the total yield gap is the sum of Yield Gap I (YG I) and Yield Gap II (YG II). The various cost components were identified under fixed cost and variable cost. Gross returns and net returns were then calculated accordingly.

Results: The sampled households were post-stratified into two groups: Group 1 abbreviated as G1, having less than or equal to 2 lactating animals and Group 2 as G2, having more than two lactating animals. The proportion of G1 and G2 households were about 79 and 21 per cent, respectively. The results of data analysis reflected that milk yield gap between potential yield and actual yield (YG II) was higher than yield gap between experimental yield and potential yield (YG I) for both household groups across all the type of dairy animals. The YG II in crossbred cow was more than two times higher on G1 farm as compared to G2 farm while it was more than five times higher in local cow. The average productivity of crossbred (9.23 litres/ day) was much higher than the average productivity of buffalo (6.09 litres) and local cow (4.98 litres/day).

Conclusion: Overall value of total yield gap (TYG) entails that if all the constraints regarding the milk production were tackled then the milk yield of the two districts could be increased by about 43 per cent. Buffalo was providing higher net returns per day per animal (Rs. 7.39) in comparison to crossbred (Rs. 5.19). Net returns both for per day and per litre were negative in case of local cow. The study reveals that the marginal farmers can become economically stable by incorporating dairying (crossbred and buffalo) as a component in their farming system.