Effect of socio-economic traits on the level of knowledge of dairy farmers

Abstract

The present study aimed to access socio-economic profile of dairy farmers, their knowledge regarding management practices and relationship between them. The study was conducted in 20 randomly selected villages of Panhala Taluka of Kolhapur District of Maharashtra with 400 dairy farmers i.e. from each village 20 dairy farmers were selected. The data were collected through structured interview schedule during the year 2013. Out of total 45% respondents were educated up to secondary school level followed by higher secondary (25.75), primary (21.25), graduate (4.75) and illiterate (3.25) respectively. Majority of respondents were belonged to medium category in terms of age, family size, herd size, annual income, risk orientation, source of information and knowledge. Fifty nine per cent dairy farmers belonged to small size of land holding. Whereas, 89.50% had low level of social participation. Education, herd size, annual income, source of information highly significant correlation with knowledge and family size had highly significant but negative correlation with knowledge. Regarding age, land holding and social participation, it shows non-significant correlation with knowledge of dairy farmers. From such study, it may be concluded that source of information, risk orientation, education and annual income will lead to significant change in knowledge level of dairy farmers.